Pakistan Court Hands Girl to KIDNAPPER

Gavel on wooden table with scales in background.

A Pakistani court just handed a 13-year-old Christian girl back to the man accused of kidnapping and raping her—after brushing aside official proof she’s a child.

Quick Take

Pakistan’s Federal Constitutional Court in Lahore ruled on Feb. 3, 2026, that Maria Shahbaz, 13, should remain in the custody of 30-year-old Shehryar Ahmad, accused of abducting her.
The court accepted a statement claiming “voluntary” conversion and marriage while rejecting Maria’s official B-Form birth record showing she is underage.
Investigators previously found the “marriage” paperwork was fabricated, yet the ruling still favored the adult male claiming to be her husband.
Rights advocates warn the decision strengthens a pattern in which coerced statements outweigh documents, leaving minority Christian families powerless.

Federal court ruling elevates a disputed “consent” narrative over documented age

Justices Karim Khan Agha and Syed Hassan Azhar Rizvi, sitting as a two-judge bench of Pakistan’s Federal Constitutional Court in Lahore, granted custody of Maria Shahbaz to Shehryar Ahmad on Feb. 3, 2026. Maria’s family says she was abducted on July 29, 2025, by Ahmad, a neighbor, and later forced into conversion and “marriage.” The court accepted Maria’s post-abduction statement as voluntary and dismissed documentary age evidence.

Maria’s case centers on what evidence courts treat as decisive. The ruling reportedly rejected her official B-Form birth registration record—normally a key identifier for age—while leaning heavily on statements made after she had been in Ahmad’s control. That approach raises a basic due-process concern: when a minor is isolated with an alleged abductor for months, her words may not be a reliable measure of free choice, especially when family access is limited.

Timeline shows police reversals, unmade arrests, and disputed documents

According to reporting from multiple outlets, Maria was taken while walking to a nearby shop in Lahore on July 29, 2025. Within days, on July 31, a magistrate recorded a statement from Maria asserting she converted to Islam and married Ahmad, after which police reportedly discharged the abduction complaint. Her family then pursued custody in sessions court, prompting an investigation that concluded the marriage certificate was fabricated and lacked proper union council records.

The procedural twists did not end there. After the family sought reinvestigation through senior police leadership, a deputy superintendent reportedly restored the First Information Report and added charges. Yet sources say police still did not arrest Ahmad, even though he appeared in court without needing bail. For Maria’s father—described as a working driver—each delay compounds the reality that a low-income minority family must fight a system that can outlast them financially and emotionally.

Sharia-civil law tension leaves Christian minors exposed to loopholes

The case also reflects a deeper conflict between civil protections and religious-legal interpretations. Punjab’s minimum marriage age for girls has been cited as 16, while Pakistan’s Christian marriage law reportedly raised protections to 18 in 2024. But advocates argue the conversion-to-marriage pathway can pull cases into Sharia-based reasoning, where under-18 marriage restrictions may be treated differently after a claimed conversion, especially when courts accept conversion statements as conclusive.

Pakistan’s Council of Islamic Ideology has opposed under-18 marriage bans as un-Islamic, and similar reform efforts in Punjab have faced delays, according to the research provided. The result is a predictable incentive structure: if “conversion” and “marriage” paperwork—real or fabricated—can neutralize kidnapping accusations, predators gain a legal shield. For Americans watching from afar, it’s a reminder why equal protection under law matters and why loopholes around age and consent are never “cultural details.”

Pattern cases show courts sometimes intervene, but outcomes are inconsistent

Other cases cited in the research point to a recurring pattern involving Christian and Hindu girls—sometimes as young as 10—abducted and pushed into conversion and marriage claims. In one example, a judge awarded custody of a Catholic girl, Jessica Iqbal, to an alleged abductor despite indications of coercion. In another, a kidnapped 16-year-old was reportedly rescued only after her health deteriorated and court intervention occurred, showing the system can act—but often late.

There are also examples of courts ruling the other way, including a 2025 case where a court denied a Muslim man custody of a kidnapped Catholic girl, plus other orders to recover abducted Christian girls in 2026. Those mixed outcomes matter because they cut against overbroad claims that “every court always” sides with abductors. Still, Maria Shahbaz’s ruling—rejecting age documentation and ignoring fabricated marriage findings—shows how quickly a single decision can erase safeguards for a child.

Why this story resonates beyond Pakistan’s borders

Americans don’t need to import Pakistan’s legal system to learn from its failures. Maria’s case shows what happens when government institutions treat documented facts as optional and let ideology decide who counts as vulnerable. Conservatives have spent years warning that when courts and bureaucracies stop honoring objective reality—age records, verifiable documents, parental rights—the powerless pay first. A society that cannot protect children cannot credibly claim justice.

As of early February 2026 reporting, Maria remained in Ahmad’s custody while her family and legal advocates considered further appeals and public advocacy. The research does not provide independent confirmation of Maria’s current condition, access to medical care, or the precise circumstances under which statements were made, and those gaps are significant. But the central facts of the ruling, the rejected birth record, and the prior finding of fabricated paperwork are clearly reported across sources.