Blog

Legal Age of Consent in Pakistan:

The Majority Act of 1875 sets the legal age of consent in Pakistan for both males and females as eighteen years, but this provision does not apply to matters of divorce or marriage or court marriage in Pakistan. The law on the legal age of consent is also not uniform all over the country.

Legal Age of Consent for Marriage:

For marriage there are different laws in different provinces of the country. In KPK, Baluchistan, and Sindh province, the age of marriage for nikahnama registration in Pakistan is 18 years, whereas in the Punjab province, the law for marriage for a female is 16 years. In some laws and precedents of the higher court, a female reaching the age of puberty can also marry someone. The legal age of consent in Pakistan is not the same in all the provinces. The age of the female is 16 years for marriage, and the age of the male is kept as 18 years for marriage in the Punjab province. The Lahore High Court, in its recent judgment, gave the observation that the age should be the same for both the male and the female and passed a direction to the assembly to make the law equal for both.

FOR SEXUAL ACTIVITIES:

For sexual activities the law is uniform all over the country. A male and the female are considered minors if they are under the age of eighteen years. If a person accused of sexual activities is under eighteen years old, they will be considered a minor and a juvenile. In Pakistan, sexual activity, either with consent or without consent, is a crime. Both the male and the female can be punished for doing so.

UNIFORMITY:

There is no uniformity as to the legal age of consent in Pakistan. Every province in Pakistan has the right to make its own law, so the law is not the same in all the provinces.

FOR OTHER ACTIVITIES:

The legal age of consent in Pakistan does not only mean that someone is asking for the age when he can have sex. This age limit is set for other activities also. A person under the age of eighteen years will be considered a minor. There can be no contract with a minor person according to the law of Pakistan.

FOR DIVORCE:

For divorce cases also, the legal age of consent in Pakistan does not apply. If a person got married when he was not eighteen years old, then he can also proceed with his divorce in Pakistan before he turns eighteen.

FOR KHULA CASES:

If a female has married before the age of eighteen years, she can file her case of khula in Pakistan before she attains the age of eighteen. Generally a court case cannot be filed by a minor herself, but in the case of khula, she has the right to file the case herself in the family court. A female, even if she does not have her nikahnama registration in Pakistan, has the right to get khula from court.

Our law firm in Pakistan is expert in the cases of marriage and divorce.