In a significant development, the Pakistani court refused to detain a Catholic girl, who refused to acquit her and hand it over to the Muslims who forced her to be converted/married.
Burewala Magistrate Tajamal Hussain recorded the allegations on Thursday (July 3) that 14-year-old Elishba Adnan converted to Islam and married Babar Mukhtar on her own free will.
“In her statement recorded under the allegations of the Islamic name “Fatima Bibi,” Elishba married Mukhtar on June 12th and insisted he wanted to live with him,” rights activist Albert Patras told Christian Daily International Morning Star News. “However, the magistrate warned her birth certificate presented by her parents. She showed she was a minor, so it was illegal to suspect her marriage to a man twice her age under the Punjab anti-child marriage law.”
Patras told the court that the lawyers told the accused committed statutory rape under section 375 of the Pakistan Penal Code.
“The court has recognized that minor consent to gender has no legal value, referring to section 29(e) of the 2021 anti-rape (investigation and trial), defining that “victims” include those under the age of 18, including those who have a marriage outfit.
Discussing the Islamic perspective on child marriage, the magistrate observed in his order that “traditional interpretations may allow adolescent marriage, but modern Islamic scholars and judicial precedents highlight the principles of welfare.”
“The Pakistani courts have increasingly discouraged child marriages in light of evolving social conditions and obligations of public interest,” the magistrate wrote in an order.
The court has decided to send Elishba to a women’s shelter after refusing to go with his parents under section 10 of Zainab Alert, Response and Recovery Act (Zarra) 2020.
The Zara Act also highlights the rehabilitation, education and protection of minors recovered in criminal contexts, the order said.
Elishba’s elopement from her home declared under the definition of aidation, and after refusing to go with her parents, she ordered her to be sent to a shelter home in Bihari district, Punjab.
“The shelter home shall ensure education, counseling, medical care and psychological support for minors,” the court restricted parents and Mukhtar from affecting, putting pressure or contacting her without court’s permission.
Usually, a tempted girl in Pakistan is accused of young people as young as 10 years old, converted to Islam, raped under a hidden gem of Islamic “marriage” and pressured to record false statements in favour of the temptator, rights advocates say. The judge routinely ignores documentary evidence related to the age of a child and returns the temptation to the temptation as a “legal wife.”
Elishba’s father, sanitation worker Adnan Masi, said he was grateful to the court for denying custody of his daughter Mukhtar.
“Muhtar threatened whether he brainwashed or threatened my child. “We weren’t able to get the chance to talk to her to see the actual reason for her refusal, but when she is not under Muhtar’s influence or threat, she will reveal the truth.”
Masi said his family wanted Erisba to return home soon and start a new life. The oldest of Masi’s six children, she dropped out of school a few months ago and helped her mother take care of her newborn twin siblings.
She went missing from her home on June 11, but he said police delayed registering for the abduction case for 11 days despite her father’s repeated visits to the police station.
The delay in registering the first information report (FIR) had a major impact on legal procedures for the recovery of children and exacerbated the distress of families, Patras said.
Christian lawyer Lazar Allah Raka praised the Magistrate for covering an important aspect of the issue of child marriage in his judgment.
“This courageous judgment is rare in our country where religious sentiment is high and vulnerable communities, especially those of our country that exacerbate barriers to justice in Christians,” Rakha said.
However, a rare order by the magistrate stopped the order in criminal proceedings against Mukhtar, Patras said.
“We are grateful to the magistrate for delving into the case in detail, but he should have ordered strict legal action against the accused,” Patras told Christian Daily International Morning Star News. “We now submit an application with the police, register a case against Mukhtar under the anti-child marriage and anti-rape laws and launch a criminal case against him.”
Rakha said the court’s order examines the lawyer’s attitude that sexual exploitation of minority girls under the attire of an Islamic marriage is a serious criminal offence and that it must be charged in such a way.
“In addition, her parents are her legal custodians as the court declared Elishba as a ‘minor’,” he added. “The issue of custody for girls can provide a good basis for filing a constitutional petition to the High Court, which may have a strategic impact on cases of similar nature.”
Police should also be held responsible for delaying FIR registration for more than 10 days, he said.
“The High Court may be prayed to instruct the police department to ensure timely registration of cases involving minority girls as delays in police cases.
On May 29, Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari signed a groundbreaking bill to curb child marriage, setting the minimum age for marriages for both genders at the age of 18 in the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT), despite intense opposition from Muslim groups, including the Islamic and Indian Studies Council (CII), the top Muslim group.
The CII declared that classifying marriages under the age of 18 as rape is not in accordance with Sharia (Islamic law).
A similar bill has been waiting for votes in Punjab Assembly since April 25, 2024. Currently, the minimum age for a girl to marry is only 16 in the state. Nationally, the Christian Marriage (Amendment) Act 2024 set the age of marriage to 18 for Christians only. If they convert to Islam, the girl thinks Muslims will come under Sharia, so they allow them to marry young.
With a Muslim population of over 96%, Pakistan ranked 8th on the 2025 World Watchlist, where it is the hardest place to become a Christian.
