Wan Azizah, who is also women, family and community development minister said the couple had been married with approval from the Shariah Court.

“My officers are there now. They met her (the girl) and we are looking into this.

“We will continue efforts to raise the marriageable age to 18,” she told reporters after opening a childcare centre at the AirAsia headquarters, RedQ.

Wan Azizah added that the government must abide by the states’ jurisdiction in shariah matters.

“They have laws to say if you break the law, you have to pay a fine. We also have to abide by the states’ rules.”

According to the New Straits Times, the solemnisation of vows took place in Tumpat in July after the shariah court gave the go-ahead for the union.

The girl’s parents, who have 12 other children, said they gave permission to their daughter to marry the 44-year-old man as they wanted her to have a better life.

This comes three months after news that a 41-year-old man in Gua Musang had taken an 11-year-old girl as his third wife.

Rubber tapper Abdul Karim Che Abdul Hamid said he had received the blessings of the girls’ parents and would formalise the marriage by applying for a marriage certificate when his wife turned 16, the marital age allowed by shariah law.

Wan Azizah said in July that the government would amend the law to raise the marriageable age for girls from 16 to 18.

Early this month, Selangor Ruler Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah announced that the permissible age for Muslims to marry in Selangor will be revised from 16 to 18.

He said several provisions in the state Islamic family laws and shariah court practices would be amended for this purpose.