Court Hands Kidnapped Girl Back to Rapist

Hand holding gavel in courtroom setting.

A Pakistani federal court just handed a 13-year-old Christian girl back to the 30-year-old Muslim neighbor who kidnapped her, forced her conversion at gunpoint, and raped her under the guise of marriage, dismissing her official birth records and police findings of fabricated documents as irrelevant.

Story Snapshot

Federal Constitutional Court in Lahore granted custody of Maria Shahbaz to Shehryar Ahmad on February 3, 2026, six months after her July 29, 2025 abduction
Court rejected official B-Form birth certificate proving her age and ignored police confirmation that marriage documents were fabricated
Police never arrested Ahmad despite restored kidnapping charges, allowing him to appear freely in court proceedings
Case follows systematic pattern affecting Christian and Hindu girls across Pakistan, where post-abduction statements override documentary evidence
Ruling sets precedent that threatens all minority girls in Punjab, where Sharia interpretations permit marriage below statutory age limits after conversion

When Birth Certificates Mean Nothing

Maria Shahbaz vanished on July 29, 2025, while walking to a neighborhood shop in Lahore. Her father Shahbaz Masih, a driver, filed a kidnapping report with Nawab Town police naming their neighbor Shehryar Ahmad. Two days later, everything changed. The 13-year-old appeared before Judicial Magistrate Hassan Sarfaraz Cheema claiming she had willingly converted to Islam and married Ahmad. Police immediately discharged the abduction case. What happened in those 48 hours remains contested, but the pattern is chillingly familiar across Pakistan’s Christian communities.

The Evidence That Courts Ignored

The family fought back through the sessions court, which ordered a police investigation. Investigators discovered the union council secretary confirmed no legitimate marriage certificate existed for Maria and Ahmad. The document presented to authorities was fabricated. The Lahore senior superintendent received the family’s petition for reinvestigation. A deputy superintendent restored the kidnapping charges and added new ones. Yet Ahmad walked free, appearing in court without arrest or bail, suggesting protection from within the system itself. His freedom during proceedings speaks volumes about power dynamics protecting abductors.

February’s Devastating Ruling

Justices Karim Khan Agha and Syed Hassan Azhar Rizvi delivered their Federal Constitutional Court verdict on February 3, 2026. They accepted Maria’s statement claiming voluntary marriage. They dismissed her B-Form, Pakistan’s official birth registration document proving she was 13 years old. They disregarded the police findings of document fraud. They ignored that Maria had been in Ahmad’s custody for six months when making her court statements. The ruling handed custody to a man 17 years her senior, accused of kidnapping, forced conversion, and rape. Safdar Chaudhry, chairperson of Raah-e-Nijaat Ministry providing legal aid, warned the decision creates a dangerous precedent for all minority children.

A System Built on Legal Contradictions

Pakistan’s legal framework creates perfect conditions for these abductions. Punjab law sets the minimum marriage age for girls at 16. National Christian marriage law raised it to 18 in 2024. But once a girl is declared converted to Islam, Sharia interpretations apply, permitting marriage below those limits. The Council of Islamic Ideology actively opposes raising the marriage age to 18, calling such restrictions un-Islamic. A Punjab bill addressing this has languished since April 2024. Courts routinely treat converted girls as adults regardless of documentary age evidence, prioritizing religious law over civil protections.

The Broader Pattern of Targeted Abductions

Maria’s case mirrors dozens of others. In May, Judge awarded custody of Catholic girl Jessica Iqbal to her abductor despite Jessica’s inability to recite the Islamic conversion creed, clear evidence of coercion. Another 16-year-old Christian girl kidnapped in May was forcibly married, raped, and trafficked before rescue in mid-August only after court intervention when her health deteriorated. Not every case ends in tragedy. Recent months saw courts deny custody to abductors in isolated cases and order recovery of kidnapped girls. But these victories represent exceptions in a system where failure is the norm. Christian and Hindu girls as young as 10 face targeting by Muslim men who exploit religious conversion as legal cover for sexual abuse.

Why Police Become Accomplices

The police role in Maria’s case reveals institutional rot. Officers discharged the initial kidnapping report within 48 hours based solely on a coerced statement from a traumatized 13-year-old. When higher authorities restored charges after fraud was proven, no arrest followed. Ahmad moved freely through court proceedings for months without bail requirements. This pattern suggests deliberate protection rather than incompetence. Chaudhry points to lack of safe environments for testimony and outright police collusion. Low-income Christian families like the Masihs lack the influence to compel action from authorities who view religious conversion as legitimizing criminal acts.

Maria remains in Ahmad’s custody as her family considers review petitions and appeals to international forums. The ruling erodes trust in Pakistan’s judiciary among religious minorities already facing systematic persecution. Every similar verdict emboldens more abductors and discourages families from filing reports they know will be ignored. The message is clear: documentary evidence, police investigations, and even proof of fraud mean nothing when courts prioritize religious conversion claims over the safety of minority children. Until Pakistan reconciles the contradictions between civil law and religious interpretations that enable child abuse, girls like Maria will continue disappearing from neighborhood shops, only to reappear in courtrooms claiming they chose their captors.