PPC § 216 — Harbouring offender who has escaped from custody or whose apprehension has

Statutory text (English)

been ordered— Whenever any person convicted of or charged with an offence, being in lawful custody
for that offence, escapes from such custody,
or whenever a public servant, in the exercise of the lawful powers of such public servant, orders
a certain person to be apprehended for an offence, whoever, knowing of such escape or order for
apprehension, harbours or conceals that person with the intention of preventing him from being
apprehended, shall be punished in the manner following, that is to say,
if a capital offence; if the offence for which the person was in custody or is ordered to be
apprehended is punishable with death, he shall be punished with imprisonment of either description
for a term which may extend to seven years, and shall also be liable to fine;
if punishable with imprisonment for life, or with imprisonment. if the offence is punishable
with 1[imprisonment for life], or imprisonment for ten years, he shall be punished with imprisonment
of either description for a term which may extend to three years, with or without fine;
and if the offence is punishable with imprisonment which may extend to one year and not to
ten years, he shall be punished with imprisonment of the description provided for the offence for a
term which may extend to one-fourth part of the longest term of the imprisonment provided for such
offence or with fine, or with both.
2["Offence" in this section includes also any act or omission of which a person is alleged to
have been guilty out of 3[Pakistan] which, if he had been guilty of it in 3[Pakistan], would have been
punishable as an offence, and for which he is, under any law relating to extradition, 4[* * * ] or
otherwise, liable to be apprehended or detained in custody in 3[Pakistan], and every such act or
omission shall, for the purposes of this section, be deemed to be punishable as if the accused person
had been guilty of it in 3[Pakistan].]
Exception.— This provision does not extend to the case in which the harbour or concealment
is by the husband or wife of the person to be apprehended.

Source and verification

Source citation: PPC (Act XLV of 1860) s.216: Pakistan Code portal consolidated official PDF 'THE PAKISTAN PENAL CODE' (Act No. XLV of 1860), p. 87, 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

The record cites an official source, but its transcription is automated or only partly checked; a human re-check is pending.

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. 87) — reflects all amendments recorded in the official footnotes up to ingest date 2026-09-15. Automated transcription; per-amendment version…

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