ISLAMABAD: The Child Marriage Restraint Bill, 2025 that fixes the minimum age of marriage at 18 was signed into law by President Asif Ali Zardari on Friday.
The legislation prohibits any Nikah khuwan from solemnising marriages if either or both of the bride or groom are below 18. Violations can result in imprisonment for up to one year and a fine of Rs100,000.
Moreover, if a man over the age of 18 marries an underage girl, he may be sentenced to up to three years of rigorous imprisonment.
The law prohibiting child marriage also states that if a court becomes aware of an underage marriage taking place, it will issue an order to prevent it. Furthermore, any individual informing the court may request to keep their identity confidential, and the court is obligated to provide protection.
The bill was originally introduced in the National Assembly by Pakistan Peoples Party’s (PPP) MNA Sharmila Faruqui and later presented in the Senate by Senator Sherry Rehman.
The legislation, however, was rejected by the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII), which termed it against Islam.
“The CII at its meeting termed the Child Marriage Restraint Bill which was moved by Sharmila Faruqui MNA in the National Assembly as un-Islamic,” an official statement issued by the CII media wing after the meeting said.
The participants of the meeting chaired by Dr Raghib Hussain Naeemi maintained that clauses of the Child Marriage Restraint Bill, 2025, fixing the age limit for marriage and declaring marriage below age of 18 as child abuse and punishment for committing the act, do not conform with the Islamic injunctions.
The CII meeting, while pointing out some problems in under-age marriages, also observed that the trend should be discouraged.
“However, the CII meeting as a whole rejected the bill terming the same as un-Islamic,” the CII statement said. The meeting also noted that the bill was not referred to the CII to seek council’s opinion and review.
Pakistan has the sixth highest number of child brides globally — with an estimated 19 million girls married before the age of 18. Nearly half of them became pregnant before reaching legal age. Only 13% of married girls finished secondary school compared to 44% of unmarried peers, limiting their future opportunities and independence.
