SHAHBAZ MASIH vs ADDITIONAL SESSIONS JUDGE, LAHORE Ss — 2026 PLD 138 FEDERAL-CONSTITUTIONAL-COURT

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SHAHBAZ MASIH VS ADDITIONAL SESSIONS JUDGE, LAHORE Ss.1(2) & 12---Child Marriage Restraint Act (XIX of 1929), Preamble---Constitution of Pakistan, Arts.175F(1)(c), 189 [as amended by the Constitution (Twenty-Seventh Amendment) Act (XXXII of 2025)] & 268---Civil Procedure Code (V of 1908), S.11---Interfaith marriage between Muslim male and Christian female---Permissibility---Female claiming conversion to Islam---Essentials and proof---Petitioner sought recovery of his daughter alleging that her marriage with respondent No.6 was void because she was a minor Christian girl and was being kept in illegal custody---The courts below dismissed the matter on the basis of her own statements that she had married of her free will---Issue requiring determination in the present matter was "whether such custody could be treated as illegal despite dispute about age and validity of marriage?"---Held: The Christian girl made a formal declaration of embracing Islam---Undoubtedly, the certificate was issued by the authority two days after the solemnization of her marriage, however, it sufficiently verified and confirmed her earlier declaration made at the time of her marriage with respondent No. 6---The aforesaid declarations were adequate to conclude that the Christian girl had fulfilled all the prerequisites for embracing Islam---Any further probe into the matter, or an attempt to ascertain the true nature of her prior disbelief would have amounted to unwarranted intermeddling, unjustifiable on any ground---She was no longer a Christian by faith and, as such, her marriage was validly solemnized under the Ordinance, 1961---Documents advanced by the petitioner could not be relied upon as the sole basis for concluding that her daughter was born on 07.10.2012, particularly when she was physically present in the court and appeared to be of a more advanced age---High Court was fully justified in holding that her custody with her husband could not be termed illegal or unlawful, particularly in the absence of any declaration of invalidity by a competent court of law---Leave was refused and petitions were dismissed, in circumstances.

SHAHBAZ MASIH vs ADDITIONAL SESSIONS JUDGE, LAHORE Ss — 2026 PLD 138 FEDERAL-CONSTITUTIONAL-COURT

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