Constitution 1973 § Article 10 — Safeguards as to arrest and detention

Statutory text (English)

(1) No person who is arrested shall be detained in custody without being informed, as soon as may be, of the grounds for such arrest, nor shall he be denied the right to consult and be defended by a legal practitioner of his choice.
(2) Every person who is arrested and detained in custody shall be produced before a magistrate within a period of twenty-four hours of such arrest, excluding the time necessary for the journey from the place of arrest to the court of the nearest magistrate, and no such person shall be detained in custody beyond the said period without the authority of a magistrate.
(3) Nothing in clauses (1) and (2) shall apply to any person who is arrested or detained under any law providing for preventive detention.
(4) No law providing for preventive detention shall be made except to deal with persons acting in a manner prejudicial to the integrity, security or defence of Pakistan or any part thereof, or external affairs of Pakistan, or public order, or the maintenance of supplies or services, and no such law shall authorise the detention of a person for a period exceeding [three months] unless the appropriate Review Board has, after affording him an opportunity of being heard in person, reviewed his case and reported, before the expiration of the said period, that there is, in its opinion, sufficient cause for such detention, and, if the detention is continued after the said period of [three months], unless the appropriate Review Board has reviewed his case and reported, before the expiration of each period of three months, that there is, in its opinion, sufficient cause for such detention.
Explanation I.— In this Article, "the appropriate Review Board" means,—
(i) in the case of a person detained under a Federal law, a Board appointed by the Chief Justice of [Supreme Court of] Pakistan and consisting of a Chairman and two other persons, each of whom is or has been a Judge of the Supreme Court or a High Court; and
(ii) in the case of a person detained under a Provincial law, a Board appointed by the Chief Justice of the High Court concerned and consisting of a Chairman and two other persons, each of whom is or has been a Judge of a High Court.
Explanation II.— The opinion of a Review Board shall be expressed in terms of the views of the majority of its members.
(5) When any person is detained in pursuance of an order made under any law providing for preventive detention, the authority making the order shall, [within fifteen days] from such detention, communicate to such person the grounds on which the order has been made, and shall afford him the earliest opportunity of making a representation against the order:
Provided that the authority making any such order may refuse to disclose facts which such authority considers it to be against the public interest to disclose.
(6) The authority making the order shall furnish to the appropriate Review Board all documents relevant to the case unless a certificate, signed by a Secretary to the Government concerned, to the effect that it is not in the public interest to furnish any documents, is produced.
(7) Within a period of twenty-four months commencing on the day of his first detention in pursuance of an order made under a law providing for preventive detention, no person shall be detained in pursuance of any such order for more than a total period of eight months in the case of a person detained for acting in a manner prejudicial to public order and twelve months in any other case:
Provided that this clause shall not apply to any person who is employed by, or works for, or acts on instructions received from, the enemy [, or who is acting or attempting to act in a manner prejudicial to the integrity, security or defence of Pakistan or any part thereof or who commits or attempts to commit any act which amounts to an anti-national activity as defined in a Federal law or is a member of any association which has for its objects, or which indulges in, any such anti-national activity.].
(8) The appropriate Review Board shall determine the place of detention of the person detained and fix a reasonable subsistence allowance for his family.
(9) Nothing in this Article shall apply to any person who for the time being is an enemy alien.

Source and verification

Source citation: Constitution Article 10 (complete, clauses 1-9): Pakistan Code portal PDF pp.21-23, ingested 2026-09-15. Footnotes: '[three months]' subs. & '[within fifteen days]' subs. by the Constitution (Third Amendment) Act, 1975 (Act No. XXII of 1975), s.2 (w.e.f. 13-02-1975); '[Supreme Court of]' ins. by the Constitution (Twenty-seventh Amendment) Act, 2025 (Act No. XXXII of 2025), s.3; cl.(7) proviso addition per official markers. v2 CORRECTION: earlier seed contained only clauses (1)-(2). Human admin re-check recommended.

Verification status: verified · Text status: verified

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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.

Amendment references

• Constitution (Twenty-seventh Amendment) Act, 2025 (Act No. XXXII of 2025) — Amended Article 10 Explanation I(i) (Review Board appointment by Chief Justice of Supreme Court of Pakistan) and substituted the Article 17(2) adjudicating forum to the Federal Constitutional Court. NEW in v2. verified

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