LAHORE: The Punjab government has been directed to amend the Child Marriage Act, 1929 after the Lahore High Court (LHC) threw down the clause pertaining to gender-based age differentiation.
In a 5-page ruling delivered by Justice Shahid Karim on Monday, the high court ruled that certain sections of the 95-year-old Act, specifically Sections 2(a) and (b), which set different legal ages for males and females eligible for marriage, which are 18 and 16 years, respectively, were “discriminatory.”
It is important to note that the Punjab Child Marriage Restraint (Amendment) Act, 2015, which made child marriage illegal in the province, replaced the aforementioned statute.The marriage regulations were designed with “social economic and educational factors rather than religious” considerations in mind, the court noted, therefore robust action against underage weddings was required.
