Punjab Panel Backs 18 as Minimum Marriage Age, Criminalizes Child Marriage

Overview

• The Punjab Assembly’s Standing Committee approved the Child Marriage Restraint Bill/Ordinance 2026, which sets 18 as the marriage age for girls and boys and sends the measure to the full House.
• The bill treats underage marriage as a police-chargeable crime that does not allow bail or private settlements, which means officers can act at once and families cannot make the case go away.
• Penalties are tiered, with up to seven years in prison and fines up to Rs1 million for adult spouses, parents, guardians, or other facilitators, and at least one year and a Rs100,000 fine for nikah registrars who solemnize such unions.
• Cohabitation after an underage marriage counts as child abuse and must be tried within 90 days in court, and the local government secretary has 60 days to finalize rules to put the law into effect.
• To block end-runs, taking a minor out of Punjab to marry also carries up to seven years in prison and a Rs1 million fine, as the move draws pushback from the Council of Islamic Ideology whose objections are advisory and were set aside in a similar Islamabad law last year.