The High Court of Lahore ruled that by virtue of Islamic law, a marriage contracted after reaching puberty is valid, even if the individual is less than the age established in the law on the restraint of children’s marriage of 1929.
Judge Tariq Mahmood Bajwa made the decision while rejecting a petition filed by a father seeking to recover his 15 -year -old daughter. The father said his daughter, 15 years old and 8 months old, was in the illegal guard of Mudassar Ali and his family.
Earlier, the police reported that they could not recover it, but it was produced in court during the last hearing. The girl told court that she was not detained, had reached puberty and had married Ali by her own choice. She also said that she wanted to live with her husband.
The court noted that no evidence had challenged its request for puberty. The father’s lawyer argued that by virtue of article 2 (a) of the Children’s Marriage Act, a woman under the age of 16 is legally a child.
However, the Court examined the history of the law, noting that it was promulgated during British domination to restrict children’s marriages but did not make such marriages. Subsequent changes increasing legal age have not invalidated marriages below this age.
Citing the decision of the Federal Shariat Court in 2022 in Farooq Omar Bhoja against Pakistan Federation, the LHC observed that even if the state can set a minimum marriage age, weddings below this threshold are not automatically zero.
Under the Islamic law, the Court explained, two conditions govern marriage: a solid spirit and an achievement of puberty. Puberty is a biological step which can be proven with evidence but which is generally presumed at the age of 15. The realization earlier is also recognized.
Referring to the principles of DF Mulla in matters of the Mohammedan law, the Court said that from the girl, he had had 15 years and 8 months and confirmed her maturity, she was legally competent to marry.
The Court concluded that Islamic scholars recognize puberty as the transition from childhood to adulthood. On this basis, the petition was rejected and the girl’s wish to stay with her husband was confirmed.
