Pakistani court declares marriages under 18 ‘illegal’

RAWALPINDI – The Islamabad High Court has ruled that any marriages under the age of 18 years will be unlawful and declared that marrying off 16-year-olds would be illegal from now on.

Reports in local media said the ruling was announced by Justice Babar Sattar during the hearing of an early marriage case as the court issued directives to hand over a 16-year-old girl to her mother.

The court issued the written order on the plea of a woman who was seeking her daughter's recovery. Last year, Sawera Falak Sher, 16, had been allegedly kidnapped and married off.

Sawera’s mother then filed a plea with the court regarding the girl's 'abduction', while the girl told the court about marrying at her own free will.

Following the major development, the court directed SHO Golra area to hand over the girl to her mother from the Darul Aman.

The court also remarked that a girl under the age of 18 cannot get hitched on her own will, saying the relatives also can't proceed with an agreement to the same effect.

The legal age for puberty is 18 years and the same could not be decided on the basis of physical changes that emerge at the age, Justice Sattar said in the written verdict.

The court directed that the issue of the matter not carrying enough clarity in the Muslim Family Laws Ordinance be placed before the Cabinet Division and parliament.

Earlier in 2019, the Senate passed a bill with a majority vote to amend the child marriage restraint act 1929. Marriage under 18 years can lead to a fine of Rs200,000 and three years of strict punishment for facilitators, it said.