The applicant requested that the court grant his son (aged 17) dispensation to marry his girlfriend (aged 18), with whom he had been been romantically involved for approximately eight months, and with whom he had been physically intimate on at least three occasions resulting in her falling pregnant. The applicant submitted that his application to the Office of Religious Affairs for his son to marry had been dismissed because his son was under the age of 19 and, therefore, did not meet the minimum age requirements contained in art 7(1) of Law No. 1 of 1974 on Marriage, in conjunction with art 15(1) and (2) of the Compilation of Islamic Laws, and the Minister of Religion Regulation No. 11 of 2007 on Marriage Registration.
The court, pursuant to art 7(2) of Law No. 1 of 1974 on Marriage, acceded to the application. It did so on the grounds that the applicant's son and his girlfriend had already been romantically involved for a significant period of time and loved each other, evidenced by the fact that they had already agreed to marry in the future. Moreover, granting them dispensation to marry would preclude them from continuing to conduct themselves in a detrimental (mafsadat) way.