ISLAMABAD: The Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (JUI-F) has approached the Federal Shariat Court (FSC), challenging the constitutional validity of the Islamabad Capital Territory Child Marriage Restraint Act, 2025 and seeking a declaration that certain provisions of the law are repugnant to the Holy Quran and Sunnah (PBUH).
Filed under Article 203D, read with Article 227 of the Constitution, the petition argued that the law’s definition of a “child” as a person under 18 years of age conflicts with the Islamic concept of puberty (bulugh) as the threshold for marriageability.
Senior counsel Kamran Murtaza filed the petition in June, seeking a declaration that the Act is inconsistent with Islamic jurisprudence on multiple grounds. The petition recalled that the FSC had on March 6, 2023 dismissed the Ali Azhar case, in which Section 2(a) of the Sindh Child Marriages Restraint Act, 2013 was challenged. The court rejected the case, holding that fixing the minimum marriage age at 18 is not repugnant to the injunctions of Islam.
The fresh petition argued that while the 2023 judgement was motivated by concern for the welfare of children and the importance of education, it proceeded per incuriam by relying heavily on the concept of Rushd (mental maturity) as a precondition for marriage, citing Verse 6 of Surah An-Nisa.
