PECA 2016 § 20 — Offences against dignity of a natural person

Statutory text (English)

(1) Whoever intentionally and publicly exhibits or displays or transmits any information through any information system, which he knows to be false, and intimidates or harms the reputation or privacy of a natural person, shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years or with fine which may extend to one million rupees or with both:
Provided that nothing under this sub-section shall apply to anything aired by a broadcast media or distribution service licensed under the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority Ordinance, 2002 (XIII of 2002).
(2) Any aggrieved person or his guardian, where such person is a minor, may apply to the Authority for removal, destruction of or blocking access to such information referred to in sub-section (1) and the Authority on receipt of such application, shall forthwith pass such orders as deemed reasonable in the circumstances including an order for removal, destruction, preventing transmission of or blocking access to such information and the Authority may also direct any of its licensees to secure such information including traffic data.

Source and verification

Source citation: PECA 2016 (Act No. XL of 2016) s.20, current text as subs. by Act No. II of 2025, s.4: Pakistan Code portal PDF pp.21-22, ingested 2026-09-15. Human admin re-check recommended.

Verification status: verified · Text status: verified

This entry is marked verified in the Qanoon data record. Check the latest official publication before relying on it.

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.

Amendment references

• Prevention of Electronic Crimes (Amendment) Act, 2025 (Act No. II of 2025) — RESOLVED (was 'reported, unverified' in v1): substituted s.20 — penalty now up to 3 years / PKR 1 million (was 5 years / PKR 5 million), added broadcast-media carve-out and Authority removal powers; Act also introduced… verified

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