FSC admits Punjab child marriage challenge

ISLAMABAD:

The Federal Shariat Court (FSC) has removed an office objection to a petition challenging the legality of the Punjab Child Marriage Restraint Act, 2026, which sets 18 years as the minimum age for marriage in the country's most populous province.

The office had objected to the plea on the ground that the petitioner had originally challenged the ordinance, whereas it had since been passed by the provincial assembly and enacted into law.

Following an amendment to the petition, the FSC Registrar removed the objection and directed that the case be listed for hearing.

The petition, filed by Mufti Muhammad Aslam through his counsel Mudassir Chaudhry Advocate, made the Punjab governor, through the provincial secretary, and others respondents in the case.

According to the petition, Sections 2(d), 2(c) and 3 of the Punjab Child Marriage Restraint Act, 2026 are inconsistent with the Constitution and Islamic injunctions.

It stated that declaring marriages involving persons under the age of 18 a criminal offence is contrary to Shariah. It argued that the state is not authorised to interfere in matters governed by Islamic law and urged the court to declare the penal provisions relating to marriages below the age of 18 unlawful.