ISLAMABAD - Men can marry underage girls after her first menstrual cycle, Rules Pakistani Court.

Pakistan court has ruled that men can marry underage girls as long as they have had their first period.

The ruling was made by the Sindh High Court in Karachi on Monday during a hearing into the alleged abduction, forced conversion and marriage of Huma Younus to Abdul Jabbar.

The Catholic teen was taken from her home on 10 October 2019. Her parents say that she was born on 22 May 2015 and have provided a baptismal certificate and school testimony as evidence that she is 14, Aid to the Church in Need reports.

They argue that the marriage is invalid under the Sindh Child Marriage Restraint Act, which forbids marriage below the age of 18.

At the hearing, judges Muhammad Iqbal Kalhoro and Irshad Ali Shah ruled that under Sharia law, the marriage between Younus and Jabbar stands because she has already had her first menstrual cycle.