A petition has been filed in the Federal Shariat Court challenging the recently enacted Islamabad Child Marriage Restraint Bill 2025, which sets 18 as the legal minimum age for girls to marry. The plea was submitted by Shehzada Adnan through his lawyer, Advocate Mudassar Chaudhry, naming the Ministry of Interior and its secretary as respondents.
The petitioner argues that the law contradicts Islamic teachings and violates the injunctions of the Quran, Sunnah, and Hadith. The plea asserts that Islamic jurisprudence does not set a fixed minimum age for marriage, and therefore, criminalizing marriage under 18 is both unconstitutional and un-Islamic.
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Citing Quranic verses, the petition also challenges the punishments outlined in the bill—especially the provision of imprisonment with hard labour—as excessive and incompatible with Islamic law. It urges the court to annul the law and restrain authorities from enforcing it.
The law, passed by parliament and signed by President Asif Ali Zardari on May 30, is part of Pakistan’s efforts to align with global human rights standards. However, the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) has also rejected the legislation, calling it un-Islamic and stating that it was introduced without proper consultation with the council.
