Maria Shahbaz, a 13-year-old Pakistani Christian girl, is still fighting in court to reunite with her family after a judge returned her to the custody of Shehryar Ahmad, the 30-year-old Muslim man accused of abducting her in July 2025. According to legal advocates, Maria was kidnapped from her Christian home, forcibly converted to Islam, and married against her will. An earlier investigation found that she was a minor and that her marriage documents had been forged. Despite this, Pakistan's Federal Constitutional Court ruled in February that she should remain in Ahmad's custody without first confirming her age, a decision her lawyers say contradicts Pakistani law, which does not allow minors to consent to marriage or religious conversion. Maria's legal team is now seeking to overturn that ruling. Her lawyer said the court has an opportunity to correct a "serious injustice," warning that allowing the decision to stand would further undermine the confidence of Pakistan's religious minorities in the justice system. The case comes as Pakistan faces growing international scrutiny over the reported forced abduction, conversion, and marriage of more than 1,000 underage girls from religious minorities each year. Last week, the European Parliament passed a resolution calling for Maria to be granted access to her family, legal representation, and psychological support, describing her case as emblematic of broader human rights abuses against religious minorities.