Punjab Assembly passes bill setting minimum marriage age at 18 for both males and females

LAHORE: The Punjab Assembly passed on Monday the Child Marriage Restraint Bill 2026, which sets 18 years as the minimum legal age for marriage for both boys and girls and declares underage marriage a non-bailable offence.

The bill was presented in the assembly by Punjab Parliamentary Affairs Minister Mujtaba Shujaur Rehman. However, the lawmakers were not initially provided copies of the bill, which led to a heated debate.

Punjab Information Minister Azma Bokhari voiced her objections, saying that the situation was “unprecedented”. She called for transparency in the legislative process.

Bokhari said, “It is for the first time that members are sitting in the assembly without having receiving copies of a bill under consideration.” She stressed that it was essential for all lawmakers to be fully informed about the contents of the bill before passing it.

Subsequently, Speaker Malik Muhammad Ahmad Khan directed that copies of the bill be immediately distributed among the members.

Expressing her views on the bill’s propositions, she argued that both “mental and physical maturity” needed to be considered before marriage and emphasised the need for age verification through documents such as national identity cards or birth certificates.

She also strongly opposed PML-N lawmaker Zulfiqar Ali Shah’s suggestion that individuals under 18 years of age should be allowed to marry with court permission.

For his part, Shah urged lawmakers not to prioritise the bill over “societal values” and expressed concerns over “moral implications” of “entirely restricting early marriages”.

Bokhari countered his arguments by highlighting the implications of child marriages for girls. She also criticised practices of “using girls to settle disputes” and questioned whether women should continue to bear the burden of societal injustices.

She noted that the Federal Shariat Court (FSC) had endorsed similar legislation passed by the Sindh Assembly.

Following extensive debate by both treasury and opposition members, the bill was approved with a majority vote.

The House also passed an amendment to the bill, which called for the best interests of the child being made a primary consideration in all actions under the child marriage law — from investigation and prosecution to bail, sentencing and protective custody.

Moved by PML-N MPA Ejaz Augustine and co-signed by thirteen members from both treasury and opposition benches, the passing of the amendment marked a rare moment of cross-party consensus on child protection.

The amendment stated that no child should be treated as an offender merely for being a contracting party to a child marriage. It added that in proceedings under the child marriage act, “where a contracting party who is child has been taken, enticed, induced, coerced, trafficked or otherwise removed from lawful guardianship for the purpose of marriage, the court shall not treat the mere statement or purported consent of such child to reside with or accompany the adult contracting party as determinative of custody, residence or protective orders”.

The bill

Previously, the minimum legal age for marriage in Punjab was 18 years for men and 16 years for women under the Punjab Child Marriage Restraint Act, 1929.

That changed with the promulgation of the Child Marriage Restraint Bill 2026 as an ordinance by Punjab Governor Saleem Haider in February. The ordinance, however, was to lapse in May — 90 days after its promulgation — and hence, the legislation needed the Punjab Assembly’s approval to remain in effect.

Apart from setting 18 years as the minimum legal age of marriage for both males and females, the bill bars nikah khawans (marriage registrars) from registering child marriages and proposes imprisonment of up to one year and a fine of Rs100,000 in case of violations.

Similarly, adults contracting marriage with a child are to face rigorous imprisonment of up to three years but not less than two years, as well as a fine of up to Rs500,000.

The bill also criminalises cohabitation resulting from a child marriage as “child abuse”, carrying penalties of five to seven years’ imprisonment and a minimum fine of Rs1 million.

It also introduces strict punishments for child trafficking linked to marriage and holds guardians accountable for promoting or failing to prevent underage marriages.

It further states that if a guardian or any other person in any capacity, lawful or unlawful, committed any act to promote child marriage, child abuse or permitted child marriage to be solemnised, or intentionally or negligently failed to prevent it from being solemnised, they will be punished with rigorous imprisonment between two to three years and will also be liable to a fine of up to Rs500,000.

All offences under the bill have been declared cognisable, non-bailable and non-compoundable, and will be tried exclusively by Courts of Session, with cases to be concluded within 90 days.