Court Annuls Christian Woman’s Forced Marriage/Conversion

By admin On Mar 17, 2025

Shahida Bibi. (ADF International)

LAHORE, Pakistan (Christian Daily International–Morning Star News) – In a significant legal victory against forced conversions/marriages in Pakistan, a civil court has annulled the marriage of a Christian woman who was given to a Muslim man as a child and coerced to convert to Islam and marry him, sources said.

Bahawalpur Civil Judge Afzal Baig on Feb. 12 ruled in favor of 25-year-old Shahida Bibi, declaring her marriage to Shehzad Akhtar Khan invalid and reversing her coerced conversion to Islam, said her attorney, Lazar Allah Rakha.

“The judge directed the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) to make a fresh identity card for Bibi, restoring her religious status as Christian and deleting her marital status,” Rakha told Christian Daily International-Morning Star News. “It’s a rare case where justice has been served in a religious conversion matter.”

Her ordeal began at age of 11, when her mother, Naseem Bibi, eloped with Nadeem Akhtar Khan, a Muslim, in March 2012. Khan handed Shahida Bibi over to his brother, Shehzad Akhtar Khan, who sexually exploited her and, after she turned 18, forced her to enter into an Islamic marriage, or Nikah.

During this time, Shahida Bibi gave birth to two children while trapped in the forced marriage; one was born with physical disabilities and died after four years, Rakha said.

Shehzad Akhtar Khan fabricated conversion and marriage certificates to protect himself from the anti-child marriage law, which restricts marriage with girls under the age of 16. A bill has been pending in the Punjab Assembly since April 2024 seeking to end gender-based age discrimination in the legal age for marriage by raising it to 18 for both boys and girls.

Shahida Bibi’s marriage has been dissolved on all identification documents, and her former husband’s name has been replaced with the name of her father, Robert Masih, the attorney said.

Shahida Bibi has never been to school and had no idea that Khan had fraudulently registered her as a Muslim married to him in the national database, Rakha said.

“Shahida Bibi had escaped from Shehzad’s captivity in 2024, but the fear of being forced back would have remained if we did not move the court for annulling the false conversion and marriage,” he said. “She’s now free to start her life afresh.”

Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) International supported the attorney in seeking justice for the young survivor.

“Nobody should suffer the horrors of abduction and forced marriage, further being forced to give up their faith,” said Tehmina Arora, director of advocacy, Asia for ADF International, in a press statement. “We are grateful that Shahida Bibi has received justice over her captor. Shahida is now free and able to begin the process of healing from this ordeal.”

Such cases are a tremendous violation of young women’s basic human rights, including their religious freedom, she added.

Under sharia (Islamic law), which permits marriage at the age of puberty, the marriage age is lower than the official marriage age, which varies between 16 and 18 years in Pakistan’s states. When girls are forced to convert, their parents often are unable to stop the violation from happening. These women and girls often are fearful for their lives and those of their families, preventing them from denouncing their captors, Arora noted.

“While these forced conversion and marriage abuses happen across the globe, they are especially prevalent in Pakistan,” she said. “The government has an opportunity to make a difference, and they should start by implementing a uniform age for marriage to prevent these forced kidnappings and marriages from happening in the first place.”

Every person under international law has the right to freely choose and live out their faith without fear of violence, she added.

“Every state, including Pakistan, must ensure that their laws and policies are in line with their commitments to protect religious freedom under international law, and that the laws they do have in place to protect girls from these violations are enforced,” Arora said.

The legal victory comes as human rights leaders from across the globe are turning their attention to Pakistan’s egregious human rights violations. In January, officials from the European Union (EU) issued a warning to Pakistan regarding its human rights violations, including blasphemy laws, forced conversions and other targeted persecution against religious minorities.

If not addressed, Pakistan’s trade relations with the EU could be jeopardized.

ADF International and allied lawyers are engaged in supporting women and girls suffering from forced marriage, ADF noted, adding that women and girls in Pakistan, many of them Christian, are forced to convert to Islam so sharia courts can validate their marriages.

Pakistan ranked eighth on Open Doors’ 2025 World Watch List of the most difficult places to be a Christian.

If you would like to help persecuted Christians, visit https://morningstarnews.org/resources/aid-agencies/ for a list of organizations that can orient you on how to get involved.

If you or your organization would like to help enable Morning Star News to continue raising awareness of persecuted Christians worldwide with original-content reporting, please consider collaborating at https://morningstarnews.org/donate/?

###

Tweet: https://twitter.com/morningstarnewz/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MorningStarNews

Morning Star News is a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation that relies solely on contributions to offer original news reports of persecuted Christians. By providing reliable news on the suffering church, Morning Star News’ mission is to empower those in the free world to help and to encourage persecuted Christians that they are not forgotten or alone. For free subscription, contact editor@morningstarnews.org; to make tax-deductible donations, visit https://morningstarnews.org/donate/? or send check to Morning Star News, 34281 Doheny Park Rd., # 7022, Capistrano Beach, CA 92624, USA.

The post Court Annuls Christian Woman’s Forced Marriage/Conversion appeared first on Morningstar News.

Become a Christian News Network Supporter…

Dear Reader, has ChristianNews.net been of benefit and a blessing to you? For many years now, the Lord has seen fit to use this small news outlet as a strong influential resource in keeping Christians informed on current events from a Biblical worldview. With much compromise and many falsehoods in modern-day Christianity, we strive to bring you the news by keeping Christ and His word in focus. If you have benefited from our news coverage, please prayerfully consider becoming a Christian News supporter by clicking here to make a one-time or monthly donation to help keep the truth of God’s word widely and freely published and distributed. May Christ continue to be exalted through this work!