In 2014, the Sindh Assembly unanimously passed the Sindh Child Marriage Restraints Act, which raised the minimum legal age of marriage for boys and girls to 18. In addition, the act was made a punishable offence. A man over the age of 18 who contracts child marriage could now be imprisoned for three years. Men who have contracted a minor marriage can also be imprisoned for two to three years. Even parents or guardians who approved the marriage can be prosecuted if they did not prevent it. „Equality Now calls on the Pakistani government, and in particular the courts, to respect their international legal obligations and uphold their own laws by reversing this erroneous decision and ensuring that a fair and proper trial is followed from this point forward,“ Flavia Mwangovya, Global Head of Equality Now, told Global Citizen. The court issued the written order at the request of a woman seeking to get her daughter back. Last year, 16-year-old Sawera Falak Sher was reportedly abducted and married. Mukhtaran Mai, a women`s rights activist, says most girls in rural Punjab province are married off at a young age because of local customs and traditions. In 2015, Punjab amended the Child Marriage Restraints Ordinance 1971 and passed the Punjab Marriage Restrictions Act 2015. He increased prison sentences and fines, but left the legal age of marriage at 16. Child marriage is practiced in parts of Pakistan, with the highest prevalence in Sindh province.
The girl is disproportionately affected. [1] According to a 2013 UNICEF report, about 21% of girls in Pakistan are married before the age of 18, the lowest rate among South Asian countries. [2] [3] Child marriage is most common in rural areas and the main driver is poverty in low-income households where education is minimal. [4] Minimum age of marriage in Islam: The minimum age of marriage in Islam is specially defined, but it is puberty. According to the law, a girl aged 16 or over and a boy aged 18 may marry of their own free will. In Pakistan, when a man is 18 and a woman is 16, the two can enter into marriage of their own free and voluntary manner. Pakistani law guarantees full freedom and protection of such marriages. Under Pakistani law, courtly marriage is legal and valid and is accepted and recognized worldwide. Over the years, the incidence of child marriage has decreased, but it is lower among women than men. The trend towards child marriage is one of the main causes of illiteracy or low educational attainment of girls. [ref. needed] It can also harm girls` physical, mental and social health, leading to serious health problems in the future.
Prenatal, newborn and maternal health problems are also associated with women married before the age of 18. [ref. needed] It is also evident that child marriage is prevalent among farmers and workers. [ref. needed] Dependency on older persons and lack of independent career aspirations or job mobility still hamper efforts to limit child marriage. [6] However, there are spatial trends indicated by different trends in different villages. Exposure to urban areas has helped reduce child marriage; And finally, recognising the harmful effects of child marriage has a positive relationship with reducing child marriage, indicating a positive role of general understanding and awareness that spreads quite quickly. [6] Across the country, about 4.7 percent of boys under 18 are married, he added. The legal age of puberty is 18 and the same cannot be decided on the basis of physical changes that occur in old age, Justice Sattar said in the written decision. Although it is not clear whether their marriage was forced or not, another fact is that the two girls were allegedly minors.
Technically, it is illegal in Pakistan to marry before the age of 16. Nevertheless, child marriage is widespread in the country. „In the newly merged tribal districts and Malakund district, people take 500,000 rupees (2,660 euros, $3,180) to 2,000,000 rupees from men who want to marry their underage daughters. Most of these men are rich and already married,“ Khan explained. To prove that the marriage was invalid and illegal, Younus` parents brought a copy of his baptismal certificate and certificates from his school to the hearing to confirm his age. Her family cited Sindh`s Child Marriage Restrictions Act, which prohibits the marriage of children under the age of 18. In view of the legal anomalies regarding the age of a person infected with Nikah, the Supreme Court in Islamabad proposed that the Ministry of Justice enact a law on the minimum age of marriage for girls while issuing a decision in a similar case. When contacted, Federal Justice Minister Raja Naeem Akber However, the judges ruled that the marriage between Younus and his captor Abdul Jabbar was legal under Sharia law because she had already experienced her first period. Qamar Naseem, a human rights activist from the city of Peshawar, cites data from the 2017-18 Pakistan Demographic and Health Survey (DHHS) and says 3.3 percent of girls under 15 are married, while 18.3 percent of married girls are under 18. KARACHI: This week, Dua Zehra and Nimra Kazmi, both 14 years old, from Karachi, Sindh, disappeared. After massive outrage on social media, police tracked down the two girls; However, they denied allegations that they had been abducted and said they had voluntarily fled to marry.
The close relationship between female chastity and family honor requires family members to marry girls early to prevent sexual transgressions and the resulting damage to the family`s reputation. The conceptualization of the girl as „property of the stranger“ who must eventually move into her husband`s house prevents parents from investing in their daughter`s education, and girls are therefore married early to relieve parents of their „burden.“ [5] „Exchange marriage – or watta satta – is quite common. Young girls are also married off to settle blood money, tribal strife and property disputes. They are given like animals,“ Mai said. Child marriage in Pakistan is prohibited by law under the Child Marriage Restriction Act, 1929 (No. XIX). According to the law, the minimum age for marriage is 18 years for a man and 16 years for a woman (article 2). [14] However, under a new bill passed by the Pakistani Senate, the minimum age of marriage for women was raised to 18.
[15] The violation is punishable by a fine of 1,000 rupees and imprisonment for a month or both, as Maulana Salahuddin Ayubi, a 64-year-old MP from Jamiat-Ulema-Islam Fazl (JUI-F), married a 14-year-old girl, according to various local media reports in late February. The reports shocked the country and went viral on various social media platforms. RAWALPINDI – Islamabad`s Supreme Court has ruled that all marriages under the age of 18 are illegal, declaring that marriage of 16-year-olds is now illegal. Afidi`s campaign makes a statement for women in an area where girls are not allowed to go to school and men tell women who to vote for. Here, a young student takes a selfie with Afridi. He told DW he supported her and would encourage her female family members to vote for her. „We think this will be a positive change in the tribal areas, and we desperately need women candidates for the assembly.“ Tipu Sultan, a Pakistan-based doctor, warned of health complications that could occur during early marriages and pregnancies. He says anemia, hormonal disorders and vaginal fistula are just some of the problems child brides face. The court also noted that a girl under the age of 18 cannot be tied up of her own volition, and stated that parents cannot make an agreement with the same effect either. Prior to the 1929 Act, the Age of Consent Act was passed in 1892, which determined the age at which marriage should not be consummated.
However, child marriage has continued unabated. To control this threat, the 1929 law was enacted. [17] The purpose of the law, as its title suggests, is to limit the solemnity of child marriage. A child was originally defined in the Act as „a person who, if male, is under 14 years of age and, if female, under 12 years of age“. The age was then raised. The Muslim Family Law Ordinance No. VIII of 1961 of 15 July 1961 raised the age of girls in the Act from 14 to 16; and lowered the age of Muslim citizens from 21 to 18 for men; This means that the age of non-Muslim citizens remains the same as before the 1961 amendment. [19] The Act, after being amended by the 1961 Decree, provides that any person who is a man over the age of 18 and marries a girl under the age of 16 is liable to a simple prison sentence of up to one month or a fine of up to 1000 rupees, or both. [19] Another custom in Pakistan, called Swara or Vani, involves village elders resolving family disputes or repaying unpaid debts by marrying off girls.