On July 26, 2025, a 13-year-old Pakistani Christian child, Maria Shahbaz, was abducted by a 30-year-old Muslim man near her home. She was forcibly converted to Islam and married to her abductor. Police in Lahore delayed the filing of the family’s first information report (FIR) and influenced the judge to dismiss their abduction complaint.
On July 31, 2025, the Model Town court of Judicial Magistrate Hassan Sarfaraz Cheema awarded custody of Shahbaz to her captor after accepting falsified documents claiming she was 18 years old.
