LHC rules Child Marriage Restraint Act 2026 cannot apply to earlier marriages
The Lahore High Court has declared illegal the retrospective use of the Child Marriage Restraint Act 2026. It set aside a Khushab Sessions Court order that sent a girl to a Darul Aman.
- LHC held the Child Marriage Restraint Act 2026 cannot be applied to marriages performed before it took effect
- Sessions Court Khushab order of 20 May 2026 was set aside
- The girl was allowed to live wherever she chooses
The Lahore High Court has declared illegal the retrospective application of the Child Marriage Restraint Act 2026 to marriages performed before the law came into force, according to Daily Pakistan Urdu.
Justice Khalid Ibn Aziz accepted a criminal revision petition filed by Sher Baz and Safeena Khatoon. The court set aside the decision of the Sessions Court Khushab dated 20 May 2026.
The Sessions Court had declared a girl, Karan Shaheen, to be under sixteen years of age and ordered that she be sent to a Darul Aman shelter. The High Court quashed that order.
The Act came into force on 11 May 2026. The girl's nikah took place on 18 April 2026, before the law took effect.
In a statement before a magistrate, the girl said she had married of her own free will and had not been abducted. She refused to go with her father and said she wished to live with her husband.
The High Court also dismissed the constitutional petition filed by the girl's father, Ahmad Sher.
The court observed that action under Section 552 of the Code of Criminal Procedure requires examining the legal requirements of abduction and of being under sixteen years of age. It said the section does not allow a court to keep a girl in a Darul Aman for an indefinite period.
It held that keeping the girl in a shelter against her will was contrary to legal requirements, and allowed her to live wherever she chooses and freely according to her own wishes.
Background
khabr.pk reported on 4 November that a Punjab Assembly committee unanimously approved a bill raising the protected age for children from 14 to 16.
Why it matters
The ruling sets how the new child marriage law applies to families and girls in Punjab. It makes clear that, in this case, a marriage performed before 11 May 2026 could not be judged under the new Act. It also limits the use of Section 552 to keep a girl in a Darul Aman against her will.
