Pakistan Penal Code

The Pakistan Penal Code (Urdu: ‫ ;مجموعہ تعزیرات پاکستان‬Majmū'ah-yi ta'zīrāt-i Pākistān),
abbreviated as PPC, is a penal code for all offences charged in Pakistan. It was originally prepared
by Lord Macaulay with a great consultation in 1860 on the behalf of the Government of India as
the Indian Penal Code. After the independence in 1947, Pakistan inherited the same code and
subsequently after several amendments by different governments, in Pakistan it is now a mixture of
Islamic and English Law. Presently, the Pakistan Penal Code is still in effect and can be amended by
the Senate of Pakistan.[1]

History
The draft of the (British) Indian Penal Code was prepared by the First Law Commission and it was
chaired by Lord Macaulay. Its basis is the law of England freed from superfluities, technicalities and
local peculiarities. Suggestions were also derived from the French Penal Code and from
Livingstone's Code of Louisiana. The draft underwent a very careful revision at the hands of
Sir Barnes Peacock, Chief Justice, and puisne Judges of the Calcutta Supreme Court who were
members of the Legislative Council, and was passed into law in 1860, unfortunately Macaulay did
not survive to see his masterpiece enacted into a law.[2]
Though it is principally the work of a man who had hardly held a brief, and whose time was devoted
to politics and literature, it was universally acknowledged to be a monument of codification and an
everlasting memorial to the high juristic attainments of its distinguished author. For example, even
cyber crimes can be punished under the code.

Jurisdiction
Section 1. Title and extent of operation of the Code. This Act shall be called the Pakistan Penal
Code, and shall take effect throughout Pakistan.

 Section 4
The provisions of this Code apply also to any offence committed by:-

 (1) any citizen of Pakistan or any person in the service of Pakistan in any place without and
beyond Pakistan;
 (4) any person on any ship or aircraft registered in Pakistan wherever it may be.
Explanation: In this section the word "offence" includes every act committed outside Pakistan which,
if committed in Pakistan, would be punishable under this Code. Extension of Code to extraterritorial
offences.

Punishments
 Section 53.
The punishments to which offenders are liable under the provisions of this Code are:

 First, Qisas ("retribution");

 Second, Diyat;
 Third, Arsh− (Pre-specified Compensation);
 Fourth, Daman (Compensation determined by court to be paid by the offender to the victim for
causing hurt not liable to Arsh);
 Fifth, Ta'zir (punishment, usually corporal, that can be administered at the discretion of a judge)
 Sixth, Death;
 Seventh, Imprisonment for life;
 Eighth, Imprisonment which is of two descriptions, namely:--

1. Rigorous (i.e., with hard labour);

2. Simple;

 Ninth, Forfeiture of property;

 Tenth, Fine
First five punishments are added by amendments and are considered Islamic Punishments, and
very few are sentenced to these punishments so far. Anyone who is sentenced to first five
punishments can appeal to Federal Shariat court.

Note: This copy of Pakistan Penal Code 1860 has been printed for the purpose of learning.

Salman Ali Shinwari