Pakistani court hands 13-year-old Christian girl to alleged kidnapper husband — Parents devastated

According to reports, Maria Shahbaz's parents were left heart broken after after the two-judge bench of the newly constituted Federal Constitutional Court (FCC) rejected her official birth record and disregarded earlier judicial findings that the marriage was illegal.

Justice Karim Khan Agha and Justice Syed Hassan Azhar Rizvi accepted Maria’s statement, which her parents and their attorney say was given under coercion, that she had converted to Islam and married 30-year-old Shehryar Ahmad of her own free will, Safdar Chaudhry, chairperson of rights group Raah-e-Nijaat Ministry, told Christian Daily International–Morning Star News.

“We were hopeful that the court would consider the girl’s official birth document (B-Form) and the sessions court order confirming that the accused had contracted an illegal marriage with a minor,” Chaudhry said.

He said, “Even the investigating officer informed the court that no marriage record existed at the relevant union council, yet this was ignored.”

Chaudhry said the court also failed to consider that the girl had remained in the custody of the suspect for more than six months, raising serious concerns about coercion.

“The judges should have taken into account that she was likely to give a statement in the accused’s favor under duress,” he said. “It is deeply disappointing that the court did not provide a safe and conducive environment for recording her testimony.”

He said Maria was abducted on July 29.

Her family failed to recover her without success.

Chaudhry, whose ministry is providing legal assistance to the girl’s father, Shahbaz Masih, also criticized police for what he described as inaction and leniency toward the suspect.

“After police discharged the abduction FIR [First Information Report] based on the girl’s statement before a magistrate, we approached the sessions court seeking her custody,” Chaudhry said. “Although the court did not grant custody, it ordered police to investigate the marriage documents.”

“After a month-long inquiry, a deputy superintendent restored the FIR and added additional charges,” he said. “Yet the police made no attempt to arrest the accused, who did not even seek pre-arrest bail and continued appearing in court without fear. This brazen conduct points to police collusion with the abductor.”