March 26, 2026
By Xari Jalil
With Additional Reporting by Hafizullah Storai Sherani
LAHORE
The Federal Constitutional Court (FCC) in Islamabad, has upheld the legality of a marriage between a Christian minor girl and a Muslim man nearly double her age, dismissing a petition filed by her father seeking her return through a habeas corpus plea, and citing principles of Islamic law and inconsistencies in documented evidence.
A two-member bench comprising Justice Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi and Justice Muhammad Karim Khan Agha, ruled that the minor girl, Maria, who was 13 at the time when she disappeared last June (or as her family alleges abducted), was an adult and therefore legally residing with her husband. Maria also later reportedly changed her religion to Islam, which her family says was done under duress.
The case was brought by Shahbaz Masih, a resident of Lahore resident, who claimed that his daughter, Maria, had been groomed and abducted by a man that he knew. He specified that she was underage at the time of marriage proven by NADRA certificates. He argued that the marriage was invalid and that she was being unlawfully detained by her husband, Shehryar Ahmad, who was a mechanic by profession and had been trying since a long time to get close to the family until the day Maria disappeared.
Earlier, an FIR had been registered under relevant provisions of the Pakistan Penal Code concerning abduction. However, during the investigation, Maria appeared before a magistrate and formally stated that she had married of her own free will and had not been kidnapped.
Following this, her father approached a sessions court under Section 491 of the Criminal Procedure Code, but the request for her recovery was rejected. The Lahore High Court later upheld that decision, prompting him to take the matter to the FCC.
In its ruling, the FCC dismissed the argument that a Christian woman cannot legally marry a Muslim man. Referring to Islamic jurisprudence and prior rulings, including the Marina Jatoi case, the court noted that such a marriage is permissible, as Christians are considered among the “People of the Book” (Ehl-e-Kitaab)
The bench also accepted that the woman had converted to Islam, emphasizing that conversion does not require elaborate rituals. A declaration of faith is sufficient, and supporting documents—such as an affidavit attached to the marriage contract and a certificate from a religious authority—were deemed adequate proof.
The court further stated that when an individual openly professes a religion, there is generally no need for additional scrutiny into the sincerity of that belief.
The court found the evidence presented by the father unreliable. It highlighted contradictions in his own statements regarding her age, as well as significant delays in obtaining official birth and registration records – the documents were obtaind nearly seven to 10 years after the alleged birth.
“Documents from a local union council and NADRA had been issued years after her supposed birth date, weakening their credibility. The court also noted that no convincing explanation was provided for this delay, which reduced the evidentiary value of those records.”
Additional inconsistencies, such as the unusually short gap (eight months) between the recorded birth dates of the girl and her sister Sania, raised further doubts. Maria herself stated a different date of birth in her marriage documents and denied being underage. Her physical appearance in court was also considered indicative of a more mature age, said the court.
Given these factors, the court concluded that the documents could not reliably establish that she was a minor at the time of marriage.
In its final remarks, the FCC endorsed the earlier rulings of the lower courts, stating that they had correctly assessed the facts and applied the law appropriately. The father’s petition was therefore dismissed.
Family disappointed with verdict
Speaking to Voicepk, Shahbaz Masih complained that the court had been unfair in its decision, saying that they had done everything to try and get their daughter back.
“I feel the systemic discrimination that is happening to us,” he said. “We have gotten threats from the abductors, we have had to shift our home to avoid any more such incidents. The circumstances of the entire thing are suspicious to begin with – how he tried to get close to the family, how my girl disappeared one fine day. We are poor people with no influence and they (abductors) are people who have political influence. We continue to wait for justice to come our way.”