IHC permits a fifteen-year-old girl to live with her spouse.

A 15-year-old girl has been granted permission by the Islamabad High Court (IHC) to live with her spouse.

In a comprehensive 24-page ruling, Justice Muhammad Azam Khan of the Islamabad High Court declared that although child marriage is illegal under statutory law, it is not prohibited under Shariah law.

According to the ruling, Madiha Bibi stated in her court statement that she preferred to remain with her husband rather than go back to her parents. The girl consistently stated that she wanted to live with her spouse of her own free will, even while she was at the crisis center. The Islamabad Child Marriage Restriction Act 2025 makes marriage under the age of 18 illegal, even though Islamic law recognizes marriages as lawful after puberty and with permission from both parties.

The girl’s age is stated as 15 in NADRA records, while the Nikah Nama (marriage certificate) states that she is about 18 years old. The court referenced the Child Marriage Restriction Act 1929 and the Muslim Family Laws Ordinance 1961 to support its claim.

The court ordered copies of the ruling to be forwarded to all pertinent ministries and family court judges, and it made a number of recommendations in its ruling. The court underlined the necessity of bringing criminal laws, underage marriage provisions, and marriage laws into harmony. It mandated that marriages between people under the age of eighteen could not be registered by Nikah Registrars.

In order to guarantee that marriage certificates cannot be granted without appropriate age verification, the court also suggested changes to the NADRA system. In order to inform people about the negative consequences of child marriage, it demanded a public awareness campaign.

Finally, the ruling directed copies of the ruling to be forwarded to the Ministry of Human Rights, the Ministry of Law, and the Law and Justice Commission of Pakistan. Additionally, it mandated that the decision be forwarded to the Secretary of the Council of Islamic Ideolog, the Director General of NADRA, the Chief Commissioner of Islamabad, and the Ministry of Interior.