The Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (JUI-F) has formally challenged the constitutional validity of the Islamabad Capital Territory Child Marriage Restraint Act, 2025, before the Federal Shariat Court (FSC).
The petition, filed by senior counsel Kamran Murtaza, argues that the law’s definition of a “child” as any person under 18 years of age is repugnant to the Holy Quran and Sunnah.
The JUI-F contends that Islamic jurisprudence recognizes the attainment of puberty (bulugh) as the threshold for marriageability, rather than a fixed chronological age.
The petition specifically seeks to overrule reasoning from a 2023 case, claiming it incorrectly conflated mental maturity (Rushd) with the physical capability for marriage.
A key demand in the petition is for the federal government to amend the Act to include a judicial exception mechanism.
This would allow individuals under 18 to seek court permission for marriage if they have attained puberty and can demonstrate financial capacity, a model the JUI-F notes is already active in countries like Jordan, Malaysia, and Egypt.
Additionally, the petition challenges the mandatory sentencing guidelines in the Act, arguing that they infringe upon the Islamic principles of discretionary punishment (ta’zir).
The JUI-F has requested the court to declare several sections of the Act inconsistent with Islamic injunctions, including provisions that classify consensual cohabitation within a valid nikah as child abuse
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Where were you when the permission of first wife for 2nd marriage was enacted, that is also against Shariah…so you can see only this law….shame on you