A Pakistani high court has ordered for a police case against a Muslim man accused of abducting, forcibly converting and marrying a Christian girl to be reopened.
The Lahore High Court’s decision gives the family of Maria Shahbaz another legal route to challenge an earlier ruling that placed her in the custody of the alleged husband.
According to Morning Star News, Justice Abher Gul Khan admitted a petition by Maria’s family on 1 October, seeking the restoration of the First Information Report (FIR) against Shehryar Ahmad.
Maria’s family says she was abducted on 29 July 2025, forcibly converted to Islam and compelled to marry Ahmad.
Maria was taken before a magistrate within two days and told the court she was an adult, had converted to Islam and had married voluntarily. Her family has disputed this, citing official birth records which show she was born on 7 October 2012.
A subsequent police reinvestigation reportedly concluded that she was 12 years, nine months and 20 days old when she disappeared. The reinvestigation also reportedly found that the marriage certificate was forged and that the alleged conversion certificate could not be verified.
The case had previously reached Pakistan’s Federal Constitutional Court, which in February ordered Maria to remain in Ahmad’s custody, treating her as someone who had voluntarily converted to Islam and married.
Maria’s family is now challenging that ruling, arguing that new evidence supports their claim that she was a minor who was abducted and forced into the marriage.
According to Morning Star News, family lawyer Safdar Choudhry said the restoration of the FIR allows the family to pursue criminal proceedings and strengthens its challenge to the Federal Constitutional Court ruling.
He said the development “vindicates our stance that Maria had been subjected to a sham marriage” and could pave the way for Ahmad’s arrest and criminal proceedings.
The case has attracted international attention. In July, the European Parliament adopted a resolution specifically addressing the “abduction, forced conversion and child marriage of Maria Shahbaz and the protection of minor girls in Pakistan”.
