August 17, 2024
By Ahmed Saeed
LAHORE
In a rare judicial decision concerning child marriages, a Lahore family court annulled the marriage of a 14-year-old girl to a 60-year-old man, declaring that the nikahnama is “fraudulent and an act of coercion”.
The minor, A*, filed a suit in for the annulment of her marriage, claiming that Nadeem Ahmed Khan, a resident of Baghbanpura, Lahore, forged a nikahnama to fraudulently and forcibly marry. She was represented by advocate Shabbir Hussain of the Asma Jahangir Legal Aid Cell (AGHS).
In her suit, A* stated that she was on her way to school between 8:00 am to 8:15 am on November 23, 2022 when the defendant, Nadeem, lured her under the pretext that his elder sister had been admitted to the hospital in poor health. However, the defendant instead brought A* to his friend’s house where his sister was already present, and in collusion with a cleric threatened the girl into marking some blank papers with her thumbprint.
The defendant and his facilitators also forced her to swear on the Quran that she would not speak of this to anyone, under threat of dire consequences for her and her family.
“The defendant and his sisters had got prepared a forged and fictitious Nikahnama on the basis of fraud, coercison [sic], force and trapping”, the court order read.
A* had also contended that she had neither reached puberty nor the legal age of marriage, which is 16 years for women in Punjab, at the time the alleged nikah was contracted. The plaintiff provided the court with her B-form to prove that she was less than 16 years of age when she was forced to sign the nikahnama.
The defendant failed to appear in court despite multiple summons, resulting in an ex-parte verdict against him.
“There is nothing on record to infer plaintiff ever entered into a valid Nikah with the defendant with her will and consent,” the court decided in its five-page verdict. “Evidence lead by the plaintiff is sufficiently convincing to accede her prayer, further being un-rebutted”
The court also ruled that the defendant has no valid right to claim the plaintiff as his lawfully wedded wife.
A*’s counsel, Shabbir Hussain, told Voicepk that as per the court’s directions, the concerned Union Council has canceled the purported nikahnama with Nadeem.
“We are also contemplating registering an FIR against Nadeem Khan and his accomplices for violating various sections of the Child Marriage Restraint Act,” he added.
The Child Marriage Restraint Act 1929 stipulates that the legal marriageable age for girls is 16 years while for boys it is 18 years. The offense of contracting/facilitating underage marriage under this law is punishable with up to six months of imprisonment for the perpetrators, including the nikah khawan.