Laws & Acts — Chapter 2

Pakistan Penal Code 1860 (PPC)

Why this chapter matters: the Penal Code is the substantive criminal law — it says what is an offence and what its punishment is. The next chapter (CrPC 1898) is the procedure — how an offence is investigated, tried and punished. Papers pair the two codes deliberately, and the bank question that opens this chapter’s story asks exactly that distinction: the PPC is substantive law. Our banks hold only 14 unique PPC question stems (Section 13) — a thin footprint, concentrated in post-specific papers (Assistant Director ANF 2013, Assistant Director Local Government 2020, NAB investigation papers 2012, Sub-Inspector service-quota 2025) — so this chapter is written at the basics level the structure page prescribes for thin Acts: the bank-asked sections first, then the standard section map a student needs to read any PPC question, verified against the Code’s text. Nothing is padded to make the chapter look bigger than its bank evidence.

Boundary (read first): this chapter teaches the Code as it stands in Pakistan today, after the Islamisation amendments that renumbered the human-body sections. Older books — and Indian material, which circulates freely online — use the pre-amendment numbering, and several section numbers changed meaning when the qatl/hurt scheme was rewritten. Where the old and current numberings differ, this chapter teaches the current Pakistan number and flags the old one as a trap (Section 14). Do not carry Indian section numbers into a Pakistan paper.

Exam Trend box

• 🔁 Most Repeated: none at chapter level — the PPC’s bank footprint (14 unique stems, 4 papers) is below both thresholds of the marking rule (≥5 papers or ≥100 questions), so no 🔁 mark is claimed. The sections below marked bank-asked are the ones the papers actually asked; they are not a 🔁 claim.
• ⭐ Must Know: none at chapter level — for the same reason. The Code is must-know in the professional sense (it is the substantive code behind every criminal paper), but the marking rule runs on bank evidence, and the evidence does not reach ⭐ here.
• 🆕 Newly Appeared / Recent Trend: none — the PPC questions in the banks run from 2012 to 2025 with no 2025–26 surge; the most recent is the Sub-Inspector 2025 question on Section 506.

1. The document at a glance

• Full name: the Pakistan Penal Code, Act XLV of 1860. The bank asks it by year: “The Pakistan Penal Code is as old as?” — 1860.
• Origin: drafted by the First Law Commission chaired by Lord Macaulay as the Indian Penal Code, enacted 6 October 1860, in force 1 January 1862. Pakistan inherited the Code at independence in 1947 and has amended it since — most importantly, the qatl and hurt provisions were rewritten in Islamic terms (qisas, diyat, arsh, daman), which is why the human-body numbering below differs from the old books.
• Size as enacted: 511 sections in 23 chapters. Later amendments inserted lettered sections (120A–120B, 153A, 295B–295C, 298A–298C, 365A–365B, 377A–377B, 402A–402D, 489A–489E and others), so a current compilation runs past 511 — but “511 sections” remains the figure the papers ask for the Code as enacted.
• Kind of law: substantive law (bank-asked, ANF 2013). It defines offences and punishments. The Code of Criminal Procedure 1898 is the procedural law that enforces it (next chapter); the Qanun-e-Shahadat Order 1984 is the evidence law (LA-04). Substantive vs procedural is the first distinction to fix.
• How to use this chapter: learn Section 2’s chapter map, then the bank-asked sections (marked bank-asked), then the offence families in Sections 6–11. The punishment figures are given only where the Code’s text states them plainly; where a punishment has been amended in layers, the chapter gives the current standard form and says so.

2. Master table: the chapters

3. General explanations (Chapter II, Sections 6–52A) — the definitions that decide questions

Most PPC questions are definition questions in disguise: the section number is the answer, and the definition is the reason. Learn these first.

• Section 8 — “He” (bank-asked, ANF 2013). The pronoun “he” and its derivatives are used for any person, whether male or female. The bank answer is “both male and female”. Do not read “he” as male-only anywhere in the Code.
• Section 10 — “Man” and “Woman”. “Man” denotes a male human being of any age; “woman” denotes a female human being of any age. Age does not enter these definitions.
• Section 22 — “Moveable property” (bank-asked, NAB 2012). Property intended to be moveable — corporeal property of every description except land and things attached to the earth (or permanently fastened to anything attached to the earth). This is why theft (Section 378) can only be of moveable property: the bank asks it directly — “the property, according to Section 378 of PPC, in theft has to be: moveable”.
• Section 23 — “Wrongful gain” and “Wrongful loss”. Gain by unlawful means of property to which the person gaining is not legally entitled; loss by unlawful means of property to which the person losing it is legally entitled. Gaining wrongfully and losing wrongfully are the two halves of dishonesty.
• Section 24 — “Dishonestly” (bank-asked, NAB 2012). Whoever does anything with the intention of causing wrongful gain to one person or wrongful loss to another is said to do that thing “dishonestly”. The bank’s theft question asks for theft’s elements and answers “intention & dishonesty” — the two elements are the dishonest intention (Section 24) applied to moveable property taken out of another’s possession (Section 378).
• Section 29 — “Document”. Any matter expressed or described upon any substance by means of letters, figures or marks, intended to be used as evidence of that matter.
• Section 34 — Acts by several persons in furtherance of common intention. When a criminal act is done by several persons in furtherance of the common intention of all, each is liable as if the act were done by him alone. Common intention (Section 34) is not the same as common object (Section 149, unlawful assembly) — see the trap in Section 14.
• Section 52 — “Good faith”. Nothing is done in good faith which is done without due care and attention. Good faith in the Code is a care standard, not a motive claim.

4. Punishments (Chapter III, Section 53)

The punishments to which offenders are liable under the Code, as Section 53 now lists them (the first five are the Islamic punishments added by amendment; the rest are the original ladder):

1. Qisas — punishment by causing similar hurt at the same part of the body, or by causing death for qatl-i-amd, at the instance of the victim or a wali.
2. Diyat — compensation payable to the heirs of the victim (Section 323 fixes its value by reference to silver — see Section 9).
3. Arsh — compensation for hurt, specified for the kind of hurt caused.
4. Daman — compensation for hurt not covered by arsh, determined by the court.
5. Ta’zir — any punishment other than qisas, diyat, arsh or daman (imprisonment, fine and the rest, as the court awards).
6. Death.
7. Imprisonment for life.
8. Imprisonment of two descriptions: rigorous (with hard labour) or simple.
9. Forfeiture of property.
10. Fine.

Learn the ladder in this order: it is the order the Code prints, and it is the order in which the Islamic punishments sit ahead of the original ones.

5. General exceptions (Chapter IV, Sections 76–106) — acts that are not offences

• Section 76 — Mistake of fact in good faith. An act done by a person bound by law to do it, or believing in good faith by mistake of fact that he is bound by law to do it, is not an offence. Mistake of fact excuses; mistake of law does not — that contrast is the point of the section.
• Section 82 — Child under seven. Nothing is an offence which is done by a child under seven years of age. Absolute immunity, no maturity test.
• Section 83 — Child between seven and twelve. An act by a child above seven and under twelve who has not attained sufficient maturity of understanding to judge the nature and consequences of his conduct is not an offence. Under seven is automatic (Section 82); seven-to-twelve turns on maturity (Section 83).
• Section 84 — Unsound mind. An act by a person who, at the time of doing it, is by reason of unsoundness of mind incapable of knowing the nature of the act, or that he is doing what is either wrong or contrary to law, is not an offence.
• Sections 96–106 — Private defence. Nothing is an offence which is done in the exercise of the right of private defence. The right covers defence of the body and of property, begins when there is reasonable apprehension of danger, and extends in the listed grave cases (assault causing reasonable apprehension of death or grievous hurt, rape, unnatural lust, kidnapping/abduction, wrongful confinement, house-breaking by night, mischief by fire, robbery, and the rest) to causing the attacker’s death. The right never extends to inflicting more harm than is necessary for defence.

6. Offences against the State and public tranquillity (Chapters VI and VIII)

• Section 121 — Waging war against Pakistan. Whoever wages war against Pakistan, or attempts or abets such waging, is punishable with death or imprisonment for life, and fine.
• Section 124A — Sedition. Bringing or attempting to bring into hatred or contempt, or exciting or attempting to excite disaffection, towards the Federal or a Provincial Government established by law in Pakistan, by words (spoken or written), signs or visible representation, is punishable with imprisonment for life (with fine), or imprisonment up to three years (with fine), or fine. Criticism of government measures with a view to their alteration by lawful means, without exciting hatred, contempt or disaffection, is not sedition — the section’s own explanations say so.
• Section 141 — Unlawful assembly. An assembly of five or more persons is an unlawful assembly when their common object is one of the five listed objects (overawing government/public servant by criminal force, resisting execution of law/legal process, mischief or criminal trespass, taking possession of property by criminal force, compelling a person to do what he is not legally bound to do or to omit what he is legally entitled to do).
• Section 143 — Punishment for unlawful assembly. Membership of an unlawful assembly: imprisonment up to six months, or fine, or both.
• Section 146 — Rioting (bank-asked, Local Government 2020). Whenever force or violence is used by an unlawful assembly, or by any member of it, in prosecution of its common object, every member is guilty of rioting. The bank asks the definition’s section number: 146. Definition (146) vs punishment (147) is the pair to learn together.
• Section 147 — Punishment for rioting. Imprisonment up to two years, or fine, or both.

7. False evidence and offences against public justice (Chapter XI)

• Section 191 — Giving false evidence (bank-asked, Local Government 2020 — read the trap). Whoever, being legally bound by an oath or by an express provision of law to state the truth, or being bound by law to make a declaration upon any subject, makes any statement which is false and which he either knows or believes to be false, or does not believe to be true, is said to give false evidence. The bank question asks “giving false evidence is an offence punishable under section:” and its key answers 191 — because the paper phrases the offence by its definition section. The punishment section is the next one:
• Section 193 — Punishment for false evidence. Whoever intentionally gives false evidence in any stage of a judicial proceeding, or fabricates false evidence for use in such a proceeding, is punishable with imprisonment up to seven years, and fine; if the false evidence is given in any other case, up to three years, and fine. 191 defines, 193 punishes. If a paper asks for the punishment section and offers both, take 193; if it asks where the offence is defined or keys 191, take 191 — the bank’s own key is the 191 phrasing (see Section 14).

8. Coin and Government stamps (Chapter XII)

• Section 230 — “Coin” defined (bank-asked, Local Government 2020). “Coin” is metal used for the time being as money, and stamped and issued by the authority of some State or Sovereign Power in order to be so used. The bank asks the definition’s section number: 230. (Metal that merely looks like money is not coin until it is stamped and issued as money — that is the definition’s whole point.)
• Sections 231–254 — Counterfeiting family. Counterfeiting coin (231), counterfeiting Pakistan coin (232), making/possessing instruments for counterfeiting (233–234), abetting and possession of counterfeit coin with knowledge (235–240), delivery of counterfeit coin as genuine (241, and 239 for a person who possessed it knowing it counterfeit), and the parallel stamp provisions (255–263A). Papers ask this family by section number, not by punishment — learn 230 as the anchor and 231–232 as the two counterfeiting heads.

9. Offences affecting the human body (Chapter XVI) — qatl, hurt, restraint, kidnapping

9.1 Qatl — the killing scheme (Sections 299–318)

• Section 299 — Definitions. “Qatl” means causing the death of a person. “Qisas”, “diyat”, “arsh”, “daman” and “ta’zir” carry the Section 53 meanings (Section 4 above). “Wali” (Section 299, and the bank’s NAB questions) means the heirs of the victim according to their right of qisas — the bank asks “in case of qatl, the wali shall be:” and answers with the victim’s heirs.
• Section 300 — Qatl-i-amd (intentional murder). Whoever, with the intention of causing death, or with the intention of causing bodily injury which he knows is likely to cause death, or which in the ordinary course of nature is likely to cause death, or with knowledge that his act is so imminently dangerous that it must in all probability cause death, causes the death of a person, commits qatl-i-amd.
• Section 302 — Punishment for qatl-i-amd. Death as qisas, or death or imprisonment for life as ta’zir, having regard to the facts and circumstances of the case; where qisas is not applicable, diyat and imprisonment as ta’zir (Section 308).
• Section 306/307/308 — When qisas does not apply. Qisas for qatl-i-amd is not enforced where the offender dies before enforcement, where the wali waives it, or where the offender is a close relative of the victim in the circumstances the Code lists (the bank’s NAB questions ask exactly these: “qisas shall not be enforced when the offender dies before enforcement” and “qatl-i-amd not liable to qisas if the offender is closely related”). The offence of qatl-i-amd can be compounded by the heirs of the victim (bank-asked, NAB 2012) — compounding is the wali’s act, not the court’s.
• Sections 315–318 — The other qatls. Qatl shibh-i-amd (315–316: death caused with intent to cause harm by a weapon or act not ordinarily likely to cause death — diyat plus up to 25 years as ta’zir); qatl-i-khata (318: death by mistake — diyat, and up to 5 years where caused by rash or negligent act); qatl-bis-sabab (321–322: death caused by an unlawful act without intention — diyat). Learn them as a ladder of intention: amd (intended death) → shibh-i-amd (intended harm, death not the ordinary result) → khata (mistake) → bis-sabab (unlawful act, no intention).
• Section 324 — Attempt to commit qatl-i-amd (current Pakistan text — read the trap). Whoever does any act with such intention or knowledge, and under such circumstances, that if he by that act caused qatl he would be guilty of qatl-i-amd, is punishable with imprisonment up to ten years — not less than five years if the offence was committed in the name or on the pretext of honour — and fine; and if hurt is caused by the act, he is additionally liable to the punishment for the hurt caused (where that punishment is qisas which is not executable, arsh, plus up to seven years). This is the section under which firing cases that do not kill are most often charged in Pakistan today.

9.2 Hurt — the current vocabulary (Sections 332 onwards)

The old “hurt / grievous hurt” pair (Sections 319–326 in the pre-amendment Code) was replaced by the itlaf/shajjah/jurh scheme. Papers still use the old words, so learn both vocabularies and which Code each belongs to.

• Section 332 — “Hurt” defined. Whoever causes pain, harm, disease, infirmity or injury to any person, or impairs, disables, dismembers or disfigures any organ of the body or part of it, without causing his death, is said to cause hurt.
• The hurt kinds (Sections 335–337 series). Itlaf-i-udw (dismembering, amputating or severing an organ), itlaf-i-salahiyyat-i-udw (destroying or permanently impairing the functioning, power or capacity of an organ), shajjah (injury to the head or face), and jurh (any other injury to the body) — each with its own arsh/daman scale. Learn the four names and their definitions; their punishments run through qisas/arsh/daman rather than a single year figure, which is why the papers ask them by name, not by years.
• Section 325 — Attempt to commit suicide (current numbering). Whoever attempts to commit suicide and does any act towards the commission of the offence is punishable with simple imprisonment up to one year, or fine, or both. Older books number this offence 309 — in the current Pakistan Code, 325 is the number to carry (see Section 14). Recent history students must know: Section 325 was repealed by the Criminal Laws (Amendment) Act 2022 (assent December 2022, decriminalising attempted suicide) and restored by the Federal Shariat Court on 18 May 2026, which struck down the 2022 repeal as un-Islamic — so as this chapter is written (October 2026), Section 325 is again in force. A paper written between 2023 and May 2026 that treats attempted suicide as decriminalised is dated, not wrong for its time.

9.3 Wrongful restraint, kidnapping and rape (Sections 339–377)

• Section 359 — Kidnapping, two kinds (bank-asked, Local Government 2020). Kidnapping is of two kinds: kidnapping from Pakistan (360) and kidnapping from lawful guardianship (361). The bank asks “according to Section 359 PPC, kidnapping is of ___ types” — two.
• Section 361 — Kidnapping from lawful guardianship. Taking or enticing a minor under 16 (if male) or under 18 (if female), or a person of unsound mind, out of the keeping of a lawful guardian, without the guardian’s consent. The two ages are the detail papers add to Section 359’s two kinds.
• Section 362 — Abduction. Compelling a person by force, or inducing a person by deceitful means, to go from any place. Abduction (362) is not a kind of kidnapping (359) — it is a separate offence, and it becomes punishable only when done with the intent the later sections specify (for example, Section 364: kidnapping/abducting in order to murder, up to life or rigorous 10 years; Section 365: kidnapping/abducting with intent secretly and wrongfully to confine, up to 7 years).
• Section 363 — Punishment for kidnapping. Kidnapping from Pakistan or from lawful guardianship: imprisonment up to seven years, and fine.
• Sections 375–376 — Rape. Section 375 defines rape (sexual intercourse against the will, without consent, with consent obtained by fear or fraud, or with a girl under sixteen, and the other listed cases). Section 376 punishes it with death or imprisonment of not less than ten years and not more than twenty-five years, and fine. (Gang rape and the related aggravated forms sit in the sections immediately following 376 in the current Code.)

9.4 Criminal intimidation (Chapter XXII)

• Section 503 — Criminal intimidation defined. Threatening another with any injury to his person, reputation or property, or to the person or reputation of anyone in whom he is interested, with intent to cause alarm, or to cause that person to do an act he is not legally bound to do or to omit an act he is legally entitled to do.
• Section 506 — Punishment (bank-asked, Sub-Inspector 2025). Criminal intimidation: imprisonment up to two years, or fine, or both. If the threat is to cause death or grievous hurt, or to cause destruction of property by fire, or to cause an offence punishable with death or life imprisonment, or to impute unchastity to a woman, the punishment rises to seven years. The bank asks the first part and answers “2 years” — learn the two-year figure as the base and the seven-year figure as the aggravated form, not as alternatives.

10. Offences against property (Chapter XVII) — theft to trespass

• Section 378 — Theft defined (bank-asked, NAB 2012, twice). Whoever, intending to take dishonestly any moveable property out of the possession of any person without that person’s consent, moves that property in order to such taking, is said to commit theft. The bank asks it twice: the property must be moveable, and the elements are intention and dishonesty. Three of the four elements sit in the definition itself — dishonest intention (Section 24), moveable property (Section 22), out of possession, without consent. Immoveable property cannot be stolen (though it can be misappropriated or trespassed upon — see the trap).
• Section 379 — Punishment for theft. Imprisonment up to three years, or fine, or both. Definition (378) vs punishment (379) is the same pair pattern as 191/193 and 146/147.
• Section 380 — Theft in a dwelling house. Theft in any building, tent or vessel used as a human dwelling or for custody of property: up to seven years, and fine.
• Section 381 — Theft by clerk or servant. Theft by a clerk or servant of property in the possession of his master or employer: up to seven years, and fine.
• Sections 383–389 — Extortion. Putting a person in fear of injury in order to dishonestly induce delivery of property (383); punishment (384): up to three years, or fine, or both.
• Section 390 — Robbery. Theft or extortion becomes robbery when the offender, in committing it or in carrying away or attempting to carry away the property, voluntarily causes or attempts to cause death, hurt or wrongful restraint, or fear of instant death, hurt or wrongful restraint.
• Section 391 — Dacoity. Robbery committed or attempted by five or more persons conjointly.
• Section 392 — Punishment for robbery. Imprisonment up to ten years, and fine; if the robbery is committed on the highway between sunset and sunrise, up to fourteen years.
• Section 395 — Punishment for dacoity. Imprisonment for life, or rigorous imprisonment up to ten years, and fine.
• Sections 403–404 — Dishonest misappropriation. Misappropriation of moveable property (403): up to two years, or fine, or both. (Misappropriation differs from theft: in theft the property is taken out of possession; in misappropriation it is already in the offender’s possession and then dishonestly converted.)
• Sections 405–406 — Criminal breach of trust. Entrustment of property (or dominion over it) followed by dishonest misappropriation, conversion or use (405); punishment (406): up to three years, or fine, or both.
• Sections 410–414 — Receiving stolen property. Stolen property defined (410); dishonestly receiving it (411): up to three years, or fine, or both.
• Sections 415–420 — Cheating. Cheating defined (415: deceiving a person fraudulently or dishonestly inducing delivery of property or consent to retain property); punishment for cheating (417): up to one year, or fine, or both; cheating by personation (419): up to three years; cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property (420): up to seven years, and fine. 417 vs 420 is the pair papers test: simple cheating is one year, cheating that induces delivery is seven.
• Sections 425–440 — Mischief. Mischief defined (425: causing destruction of or change in property with intent to cause wrongful loss or damage to the public or any person); punishment (426): up to three months, or fine, or both; aggravated forms (427–440) scale with the damage and the means.
• Sections 441–462 — Criminal trespass. Trespass defined (441: entering or remaining on another’s property with intent to commit an offence, intimidate, insult or annoy); house-trespass (442) and its punishments (448: up to one year; 449: house-trespass in order to commit an offence punishable with death, up to life or rigorous 10 years; 450: the same for offences punishable with life, up to 10 years).

11. Religion, documents, defamation and attempts

• Sections 295B–295C — Religion (Chapter XV). 295B (defiling a copy of the Holy Quran): imprisonment for life. 295C (use of derogatory remarks in respect of the Holy Prophet): death or imprisonment for life, and fine. These two sections are the ones papers ask by number from Chapter XV; 295A (deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings) and 298/298A–298C (uttering words to wound religious feelings; misuse of epithets, titles and descriptions reserved for holy personages) complete the chapter at basics level.
• Sections 463–465 — Forgery (Chapter XVIII). Forgery defined (463: making a false document with intent to cause damage or injury, support a claim, or commit fraud); punishment (465): up to two years, or fine, or both. Forgery of a record of a court or public register (466: up to 7 years) and of a valuable security or will (467: up to life or 10 years) are the aggravated forms.
• Sections 499–500 — Defamation (Chapter XXI). Defamation defined (499: making or publishing an imputation concerning a person, intending to harm or knowing it will harm his reputation, subject to the ten exceptions — truth for public good, fair comment on public conduct, and the rest); punishment (500): simple imprisonment up to two years, or fine, or both.
• Section 511 — Attempts (Chapter XXIII). Whoever attempts to commit an offence punishable with imprisonment for life or a shorter term, or causes such an offence to be attempted, and does any act towards its commission, where no express provision is made for punishing the attempt, is punishable with imprisonment up to one-half of the longest term provided for the offence, or the fine provided, or both. Section 511 is the fallback: where the Code gives a specific attempt section (324 for qatl-i-amd, 307 in the old numbering), that section applies instead.

12. Rapid-fire one-liners

• PPC = Act XLV of 1860 · enacted 6 October 1860 · in force 1 January 1862 · drafted by the First Law Commission chaired by Macaulay · inherited by Pakistan 1947 · 511 sections, 23 chapters as enacted.
• PPC is substantive law; CrPC 1898 is procedural law; Qanun-e-Shahadat 1984 is evidence law.
• Section 8 — “he” = any person, male or female · Section 10 — man/woman of any age · Section 22 — moveable property · Section 24 — dishonestly = intending wrongful gain or wrongful loss.
• Section 53 — punishments: Qisas, Diyat, Arsh, Daman, Ta’zir, Death, Life, Rigorous/Simple imprisonment, Forfeiture, Fine.
• Section 82 — child under 7: no offence · Section 83 — child 7–12 without maturity: no offence · Section 84 — unsound mind: no offence · Sections 96–106 — private defence.
• Section 121 — waging war: death or life + fine · Section 124A — sedition: life or up to 3 years + fine · Section 141 — unlawful assembly: 5+ persons, common object · Section 143 — 6 months · Section 146 — rioting defined · Section 147 — rioting: 2 years.
• Section 191 — giving false evidence defined · Section 193 — false evidence punished: 7 years (judicial proceeding) / 3 years (otherwise).
• Section 230 — coin defined · Sections 231–232 — counterfeiting coin / Pakistan coin.
• Section 300 — qatl-i-amd · Section 302 — death as qisas, or death/life as ta’zir · Section 308 — qatl-i-amd not liable to qisas: diyat · Section 324 — attempt to commit qatl-i-amd: up to 10 years, min 5 if honour pretext.
• Section 332 — hurt defined · Itlaf-i-udw / Itlaf-i-salahiyyat-i-udw / Shajjah / Jurh — the current hurt kinds · Section 325 — attempt to commit suicide: simple up to 1 year (repealed 2022, restored by the Federal Shariat Court 18 May 2026).
• Section 359 — kidnapping: two kinds (from Pakistan; from lawful guardianship) · Section 361 — guardian ages: male under 16, female under 18 · Section 362 — abduction (separate offence) · Section 363 — kidnapping: 7 years.
• Section 375 — rape defined · Section 376 — death or 10–25 years + fine · Section 503 — criminal intimidation defined · Section 506 — 2 years (7 years aggravated).
• Section 378 — theft: dishonest intention + moveable property + out of possession + without consent · Section 379 — theft: 3 years · Section 380 — dwelling theft: 7 years · Section 381 — servant theft: 7 years.
• Section 390 — robbery · Section 391 — dacoity: 5+ persons · Section 392 — robbery: 10 years (14 on highway at night) · Section 395 — dacoity: life or rigorous 10 years.
• Section 405/406 — breach of trust: 3 years · Section 415/417 — cheating: 1 year · Section 420 — cheating inducing delivery: 7 years · Section 463/465 — forgery: 2 years · Section 499/500 — defamation: simple 2 years.
• Section 295B — defiling the Quran: life · Section 295C — derogatory remarks: death or life + fine · Section 511 — attempt fallback: half the longest term.

13. Most-asked facts (from our verified past-paper banks)

Counting method (script hidden_files/goldmine-notes-count-la02.py, counts saved in hidden_files/goldmine-notes-la02-counts.json): every bank file was scanned — 566 files, 55,612 questions (FPSC site bank, PPSC site files, gk360 archive, CSS/monster conversions, gk360 monthly CA bank; overlaps between banks included, as in the audit). A question counted for this chapter if its question text named the Penal Code, carried the PPC abbreviation in a law sense, or asked a qatl/qisas concept from Chapter XVI: 17 rows, 14 unique stems (the Local Government 2020 paper sits in both the archive and the gk360 file, so its three stems count twice as rows). The computer-abbreviations question “What does PPC stand for?” (answer: Pay Per Click) is excluded as a stray — it is CS-07’s abbreviation, not this chapter’s Code.

• The 14 unique stems (all of them — the whole bank footprint): PPC as old as 1860 (ANF 2013); PPC is substantive law (ANF 2013); “he” = both male and female, Section 8 (ANF 2013); rioting defined, Section 146 (Local Government 2020); coin defined, Section 230 (Local Government 2020); kidnapping two kinds, Section 359 (Local Government 2020); giving false evidence keyed to Section 191 (Local Government 2020); theft property must be moveable, Section 378 (NAB 2012); theft’s elements: intention & dishonesty, Section 378 (NAB 2012); qatl-i-amd compounded by the heirs of the victim (NAB 2012); qisas not enforced when the offender dies before enforcement (NAB 2012); the wali is the victim’s heirs (NAB 2012); qatl-i-amd not liable to qisas where the offender is closely related (NAB 2012); criminal intimidation, Section 506: 2 years (Sub-Inspector 2025).
• Papers, not just questions: the stems come from 4 papers (ANF 2013, Local Government 2020, NAB 2012, Sub-Inspector 2025) — below the 5-paper threshold, which is why this chapter carries no 🔁 mark (see the Exam Trend box). The audit scan’s PPC text-hit figure (15) is consistent with this count once its wider text matching is allowed for.
• What the banks do not ask (yet): no bank question in the scan asks Sections 302, 324, 379, 392, 395, 420 or 376 by number. Those sections are taught here from the Code’s text because a PPC chapter without them would not let a student read a charge sheet — but they are not presented as bank-asked, and the practice set below is the 14 stems, not an inflated figure.

14. Traps & confusions

• 191 defines, 193 punishes. The bank keys false evidence to 191 because it phrases the offence by its definition. If a paper asks for the punishment section, the answer is 193 (7 years in a judicial proceeding, 3 years otherwise). Learn both numbers with their verbs attached: 191 = “giving false evidence” (the definition), 193 = “punishment for false evidence”.
• 324 in Pakistan ≠ 324 in India. In the current Pakistan Code, 324 is attempt to commit qatl-i-amd (up to 10 years, min 5 if honour pretext). In the Indian Code — and in pre-amendment books — 324 is voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons (up to 3 years). The hurt-by-weapons offence in Pakistan’s current scheme sits in the hurt sections (332 onwards), not in 324. If a paper offers “attempt to commit qatl-i-amd” against 324, take it; if it offers “hurt by dangerous weapons” against 324, it is using the old/Indian numbering.
• 307 is not the attempt section in Pakistan’s current Code. Indian numbering makes 307 “attempt to murder”. In the current Pakistan Code the attempt to commit qatl-i-amd is 324 (above), and Section 307 sits in the qisas-enforceability block (Sections 306–308). Do not carry 307 across the border.
• 325 is not 326, and neither is the Indian number. Current Pakistan numbering: 325 = attempt to commit suicide (simple up to 1 year). Older books number it 309. Indian 326 (grievous hurt by dangerous weapons) has no Pakistan counterpart under that number — the current hurt kinds are itlaf/shajjah/jurh (Section 9.2). This chapter deliberately asserts no punishment figure for a Pakistan Section 326, because the Indian figure does not transfer.
• Substantive vs procedural, again. PPC = what the offence is; CrPC = how it is tried; Qanun-e-Shahadat = how it is proved. A question asking “which law defines theft?” wants PPC 378; “which law governs the FIR?” wants CrPC (next chapter); “which law governs a witness?” wants Qanun-e-Shahadat (LA-04).
• Definition vs punishment pairs. The Code habitually splits them: 146/147 (rioting), 191/193 (false evidence), 378/379 (theft), 415/417 (cheating), 499/500 (defamation), 503/506 (intimidation). When a paper asks “defined under section ___”, take the lower (definition) number; when it asks “punishable under section ___”, take the punishment number — except where the paper itself keys the definition number, as the Local Government 2020 false-evidence question does with 191.
• Common intention (34) vs common object (149). Section 34 (Chapter II) makes each person liable for an act done in furtherance of their common intention. Section 149 (Chapter VIII) makes every member of an unlawful assembly liable for an offence committed in prosecution of its common object. Intention is a shared plan; object is a shared assembly purpose. Papers swap them.
• Theft vs misappropriation vs breach of trust. Theft (378) takes property out of possession without consent. Misappropriation (403) converts property already in one’s possession. Breach of trust (405) converts property entrusted to one. The same dishonest conversion is three different offences depending on how the property got into the offender’s hands.
• Kidnapping (359) vs abduction (362). Kidnapping has two kinds and turns on taking from Pakistan or from a lawful guardian (359–361). Abduction turns on force or deceit in compelling a person to go from a place (362), and is punishable only with the intent the later sections attach. A taking by deceit of an adult is abduction, not kidnapping from guardianship.
• PPC the Code vs PPC the abbreviation. In computer papers, PPC = Pay Per Click (CS-07). In law papers, PPC = Pakistan Penal Code. The abbreviation question in the computer bank is not a law question and is excluded from this chapter’s count (Section 13).

15. Memory tricks (professional only)

• “1860–1862–1947”: enacted 1860, in force 1862, inherited 1947. Three years, three dates, one Code.
• “Substantive says what, procedure says how”: PPC = what the offence is; CrPC = how it is tried. Say the pair whenever either Code is named.
• “146 defines, 147 fines (and confines)”: rioting’s definition and punishment sit one number apart, as do 378/379 (theft), 191/193 (false evidence) and 503/506 (intimidation) — learn every offence as a definition-plus-punishment pair, never as a single number.
• “359 has two, 361 has two ages”: kidnapping is of two kinds (359); guardianship ages are 16 (male) and 18 (female) (361). Two, then sixteen-eighteen.
• “378 moves, 379 pays”: theft’s definition (378) turns on moveable property moved out of possession; its punishment (379) is three years. Moveable–three: the property moves, the years are three.
• “324 tries to kill, 506 threatens”: in the current Pakistan Code, 324 is the attempt section students mislabel from Indian books, and 506 is the threat section whose base figure is two years. Attempt–ten, threat–two.
• “53’s ladder, Islamic first”: Qisas, Diyat, Arsh, Daman, Ta’zir — then Death, Life, Rigorous/Simple, Forfeiture, Fine. The five Islamic punishments head the ladder because they were added on top of it.

16. Visuals (site build specs)

• TABLE GRAPHIC — The punishment ladder: Section 53’s ten punishments in order, with the five Islamic punishments visually separated from the original five — placed in Section 4.
• FLOWCHART — From definition to punishment: for each bank-asked pair (146→147, 191→193, 378→379, 503→506), a two-box flow (definition section → punishment section) with the bank question’s wording on the definition box — placed in Sections 6, 7, 9.4 and 10 as a repeated motif.
• DIAGRAM — The qatl ladder: amd → shibh-i-amd → khata → bis-sabab as four descending steps of intention, each labelled with its section block and its qisas/diyat consequence — placed in Section 9.1.
• TABLE GRAPHIC — Property offences at a glance: theft (378/379), dwelling theft (380), servant theft (381), extortion (383/384), robbery (390/392), dacoity (391/395), misappropriation (403), breach of trust (405/406), cheating (415/417/420), forgery (463/465) — one row per offence with definition section, punishment section and years — placed in Section 10.
• WARNING CALLOUT — Old vs current numbering: a side-by-side table (324, 325, 307: old/Indian meaning vs current Pakistan meaning) rendered as a caution panel, not as body text — placed in Section 14.

17. Practice this topic

• Practice set: 14 verified unique question stems (17 rows including cross-bank duplicates; method in Section 13). The site serves them as this chapter’s practice set, filtered by subject=laws + Pakistan Penal Code topic tags. Sections taught here from the Code’s text with no direct bank match yet (notably 302, 324, 379, 392, 395, 420, 376) are flagged as text-taught in the chapter, not counted in the practice set — absence from these banks is not evidence they are unasked, and the next post-specific papers (police, FIA, NAB) are the likeliest place for them to appear.
• Book mode: ← Previous: Constitution of Pakistan 1973 — Act Level · Next: Code of Criminal Procedure 1898 (to follow) →

Goldmine Notes · Laws & Acts · Chapter 2 (LA-02) · Sources: Pakistan Penal Code (Act XLV of 1860) — text as carried at pakistankanoon.com (Act XLV of 1860, 6 October 1860; Section 324 attempt-to-commit-qatl-i-amd text, up to ten years with the five-year honour-pretext minimum; Section 53 punishment list) and in the Federal Investigation Agency’s published compilation (fmu.gov.pk, Pakistan Penal Code PDF, Section 53 list); structure and chapter ranges per the Code’s contents as carried at dastoorai.com (615 sections in force in current compilations, version 30 November 2025 — the chapter teaches the 511-section enacted figure, which is what the papers ask); hurt vocabulary (Sections 332, 335) and qatl block (Sections 299–308, 315–318) per the Code’s Chapter XVI text; Section 325’s repeal-and-restoration history per the Criminal Laws (Amendment) Act 2022 and the Federal Shariat Court’s 18 May 2026 judgment (ARY News report of the verdict; PLOS Mental Health summary, 2026); verified past-paper banks via script hidden_files/goldmine-notes-count-la02.py (566 files, 55,612 questions; counts saved in hidden_files/goldmine-notes-la02-counts.json). Standard answers only; Section 326’s punishment is deliberately not asserted (the Indian figure does not transfer to the current Pakistan numbering), and the Section 191/193 and 324/307 traps are stated as traps, not smoothed over.