Groom, father arrested as Lahore police foil marriage of 13-year-old girl

LAHORE: Lahore police have foiled the wedding of a 13-year-old girl and arrested six suspects, including the groom and the girl’s father.

According to a spokesperson for the Lahore deputy inspector general (DIG) of operations, Liaquatabad police acted on a tip-off about a child marriage ceremony at a wedding hall in Kashmiri Mohalla and raided the venue and stopped the rukhsati before the 13-year-old girl could be sent to her husband’s home.

According to the spokesperson, six suspects, including the would-be groom and the girl’s father, were arrested, and a case was registered against them at the Liaquatabad Police Station.

Initial investigation revealed that the girl’s nikah had been solemnised on October 4, the police spokesperson said.

The incident comes months after Punjab introduced stricter legislation to prevent child marriages.

In February 2026, the Punjab governor approved the Child Marriage Restraint Ordinance, which was subsequently replaced by the Punjab Child Marriage Restraint Act 2026, passed by the provincial assembly on May 11.

Under the law, the minimum legal age for marriage for both boys and girls is 18 years, while child marriage has been made a non-bailable offence.

An adult who marries a child can face imprisonment of two to three years and a fine of up to Rs500,000. Guardians who facilitate or negligently allow such marriages can also face the same punishment.

According to Unicef figures released in May 2025, around 19 million girls in Pakistan were married before turning 18, including 4.8 million who were married before the age of 15.

Pakistan ranks sixth globally in terms of the number of child marriages, according to the organisation.

The Punjab Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey 2024 found that 13.8 per cent of women aged 20 to 24 in the province had married before turning 18, while 2.5 per cent had married before the age of 15.

The corresponding figures in the 2017-18 survey were 14.6 per cent and 3.3 per cent, respectively.

Meanwhile, the Punjab Gender Parity Report 2023-24, published by the Punjab Commission on the Status of Women, recorded an increase in reported child marriage cases in the province from 45 in 2023 to 119 in 2024.

Eight such cases were reported to police in Lahore in 2024, the report said.