CrPC § 33 — Power of Magistrate to sentence to imprisonment in default of fine

Statutory text (English)

(1) The Court of any
Magistrate may award such terms of imprisonment in default of payment of fine as is authorized by law in
case of such default:
Proviso as to certain cases:-

Provided that—
(a) the term is not in excess of the Magistrate’s powers under this Code;
(b) in any case decided by a Magistrate where imprisonment has been awarded as part of the substantive sentence, the period of
imprisonment awarded in default of payment of the fine shall not exceed one-fourth of the period of imprisonment which such Magistrate is competent to inflict as punishment for the offence
otherwise than as imprisonment in default of payment of the fine.

(2) The imprisonment awarded under this section may be in addition to a substantive sentence of imprisonment for the maximum term awardable by the Magistrate under Section 32.

Source and verification

Source citation: CrPC (Act V of 1898) s.33: Pakistan Code portal consolidated official PDF 'THE CODE OF CRIMINAL PROCEDURE' (Act No. V of 1898, last amended 2017-02-16), p. 29, ingested 2026-09-15. Automated transcription from official source (pypdf extraction, audited artifact repair); human admin re-check required before production.

Verification status: verified · Text status: auto_transcribed_verified_source

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Official Urdu text status: pending_official_urdu_text. Where official Urdu wording has not been sourced, Qanoon does not substitute an unverified translation for the statutory text.

Historical text notes

1 historical record is linked to this section. Historical wording may be incomplete or pending verification; it is not presented as current law.

• Date not confirmed: Consolidated current text as published in the official Pakistan Code PDF (p. 29) — reflects all amendments recorded in the official footnotes up to ingest date 2026-09-15. Automated transcription; per-amendment version…

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