Punjab governor promulgates ordinance declaring child marriage non-bailable offence

[hydrabadi_arab]

LAHORE: A new ordinance promulgated by Punjab Governor Saleem Haider Khan on Wednesday declared child marriage a non-bailable offence and set 18 years as the minimum legal age of marriage for both males and females, eliminating the previous gender-based distinctions.

Up until now, the minimum legal age for marriage in Punjab was 18 years for men and 16 years for women under the Punjab Child Marriage Restraint Act, 1929.

This has changed with the promulgation of the Punjab Child Marriage Restraint Ordinance 2026, under which offenders could face up to seven years in prison and fines of up to Rs1 million.

The law comes into effect immediately across the province and was promulgated under Article 128(1) of the Constitution as the Punjab Assembly is not in session.

Under the new legal framework, nikah khawans(marriage registrars) have been barred from registering child marriages and could face imprisonment of up to one year and fine of Rs100,000 in case of violations.

Similarly, adults contracting marriage with a child will face rigorous imprisonment of up to three years but not less than two years, as well as a fine of up to Rs500,000.

The ordinance also criminalises cohabitation resulting from a child marriage as “child abuse”, carrying penalties of five to seven years’ imprisonment and a minimum fine of Rs1 million.

It also introduces strict punishments for child trafficking linked to marriage and holds guardians accountable for promoting or failing to prevent underage marriages.

It further stated that if a guardian or any other person in any capacity, lawful or unlawful, committed any act to promote child marriage, child abuse or permitted child marriage to be solemnised, or intentionally or negligently failed to prevent it from being solemnised, they will be punished with rigorous imprisonment between two to three years and will also be liable to a fine of up to Rs500,000.

All offences under the ordinance have been declared cognisable, non-bailable and non-compoundable, and will be tried exclusively by Courts of Session, with cases to be concluded within 90 days.

According to the statement of objects and reasons, the ordinance is aimed at modernising child protection laws in Punjab, removing gender discrimination in minimum marriage age, and strengthening legal safeguards against exploitation and abuse.

 

[El Sidd]

Sind should reproduce a similar law and raise the eligibility age to minimum of 25 years for both men and women if an outright ban on marriage citing terrible economic conditions cannot be formulated.

 

[313Ghazi]

Lets hope this is taken seriously and acted upon. We can argue between 15,15,18,21 etc but there are some shaitan like Diesel who sat in our parliament and declared he'd oversee the weddings of 10 year olds.

 

[Goenitz]

Lets hope this is taken seriously and acted upon. We can argue between 15,15,18,21 etc but there are some shaitan like Diesel who sat in our parliament and declared he'd oversee the weddings of 10 year olds.

He cannot do anything unless he has the 'nod'. If he does, it will all be gimmicks created for him to become relevant again in KPK. That coward lost his voice to object probable PA deployment in Gaza.
Anyway, though good but what about the timing? bcz of the UN delegation in Pakistan or some sub-condition for GSP+ status?

 

[hasssanali8998]

The old law on child marriage in Punjab has been abolished and a new law has been implemented by Punjab government. In which the minimum age of marriage for a girl has been increased from 16 to 18 years, the same as for a boy. According to the notification of the Punjab government, now if the age of either the bride or groom is less than 18 years, both the person who performs the marriage and those who arrange it will be punished and it has been made a non-bailable offence.

 

[FarhanSiddiqui]

The minimum age should be 18 years old for both brides and grooms in Pakistan. The laws on the books while the society following their own traditional marriageable ages are two different issues. How are ee going to do enforce theses laws ?

 

[Maea]

Apart from sounding nice, this law doesnt make any sense.

 

[Fatman17]

This thread is under scrutiny. Be careful what you jot down

 

[Solomon2]

European Parliament resolution of 9 July 2026 on the abduction, forced conversion and child marriage of Maria Shahbaz and the protection of girls in Pakistan (2026/2801(RSP))

The European Parliament,

– having regard to Rules 150(5) and 136(4) of its Rules of Procedure,

A. whereas Maria Shahbaz, a Christian girl from Lahore, was 13 when she was abducted and forced to convert to Islam and marry her abductor; whereas her family maintains that her statements were made under duress and coercion; whereas despite documentary evidence confirming her minority status and falsified marriage documents, in March 2026 Pakistan’s Federal Constitutional Court upheld her conversion and marriage and ordered her to remain with her abductor;

B. whereas there is a persistent and well-documented pattern in Pakistan of abduction, forced conversion and forced marriage of underage girls from Hindu, Christian and other religious minorities; whereas, according to 2025 UN figures, among women and girls affected by forced conversion through marriage, around 75 % were Hindu and 25 % were Christian; whereas poverty and marginalisation heighten girls’ vulnerability;

C. whereas the Pakistani Government recently proposed a national framework to end child marriage aimed at strengthening the protection of minors; whereas legislation against child marriage raising the minimum age of marriage to 18 years was adopted in some provinces, which, however, lack enforcement;

D. whereas Christians are among the most severely persecuted religious communities in Pakistan and the largest worldwide, as demonstrated by the case of Maria Shahbaz;

E. whereas the case of Maria Shahbaz is emblematic of broader human rights violations faced by minorities in Pakistan, including arbitrary detention, forced disappearances, harassment of journalists and civil society, and misuse of blasphemy, anti-terrorism and cybercrime laws;

1. Strongly condemns the abduction, forced conversion to Islam, child marriage and ruling in the case of Maria Shahbaz, and similar abuses of underage girls from religious minorities in Pakistan;

2. Calls on the Pakistani Government to ensure that all cases involving minors or allegations of coercion are investigated transparently and independently and to ensure the effective prosecution of perpetrators and safe return of abducted girls;

3. Calls on the Pakistani authorities to ensure the immediate protection of Maria Shahbaz, to grant her access to legal representation, independent psychological support and to her family, and to conduct a thorough, transparent and impartial review of her case, fulling respecting due process and the best interests of the child and allowing human rights organisations to independently monitor her situation;

4. Strongly condemns the systematic persecution of Christians in Pakistan and stresses that the abduction, forced conversion and child marriage of Maria Shahbaz must be seen in the wider context of discrimination, violence and intimidation faced by the country’s Christian community; demands that Pakistan repeal its blasphemy laws and end the persecution of Christians and other religious minorities;

5. Urges the Pakistani judiciary to uphold the rule of law and ensure that any proceedings involving girls from minorities are conducted without external pressure, intimidation or coercion; emphasises the need for structured capacity-building within the judiciary in that regard;

6. Welcomes the legislative steps taken in some provinces against child marriage and urges Pakistan to adopt and fully implement the national framework to end child marriage and to implement and enforce the provincial legislation; calls on other provinces to adopt and implement equivalent legislation;
7. Encourages Pakistan to create a national mechanism for handling complaints from families of abducted or forcibly converted girls from minorities, and calls for comprehensive support for victims, including safe shelters, legal aid, psychological counselling and reintegration programmes; calls for addressing the root causes of forced marriage and conversion, including gender inequality, poverty, social exclusion and discrimination based on caste, gender and religion, and for targeted protection measures for girls from minorities facing discrimination, with particular attention paid to accessing education and social protection;

8. Calls for the EU and the Member States to systematically raise the issue of forced conversions and marriages and the protection of religious and other minorities, political opponents, journalists, civil society and human rights defenders and activists in bilateral dialogues with Pakistan, including within the framework of the Generalised Scheme of Preferences Plus monitoring; recalls that failure to effectively implement its human rights commitments, including on women’s and children’s rights, should result in the withdrawal of Pakistan’s GSP+ status;

9. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the VP/HR and the Government and Parliament of Pakistan.