Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA)

PECA 2016 § 19 — Unauthorized interception

This page reproduces the English text stored for section 19 of Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA). The statute citation and data status are shown below.

Statutory text (English)

Whoever with dishonest intention commits unauthorized
interception by technical means of—
(a) any transmission that is not intended to be and is not open to the public, from or
within an information system; or
(b) electromagnetic emissions from an information system that are carrying data,
shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may
extend to two years or with fine which may extend to five hundred thousand
rupees or with both.

Source and verification

Source citation: PECA 2016 (Act XL of 2016) s.19: Pakistan Code portal consolidated official PDF 'THE PREVENTION OF ELECTRONIC CRIMES ACT, 2016' (incl. Act XXXVII of 2023 & Act II of 2025 amendments), p. 21, 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. 21) — reflects all amendments recorded in the official footnotes up to ingest date 2026-09-15. Automated transcription; per-amendment version…

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