Silenced

Online speech and its consequences in Pakistan, 2016 to present

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PECA Section 21: Offences against modesty of a natural person and minor

Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA), 2016 (as amended in 2025)

What this section covers

Official heading: Offences against modesty of a natural person and minor

Publicly sharing sexually explicit images or videos of a person (including a face superimposed on explicit material) to harm them, take revenge, create hatred or blackmail them.

Part of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA), 2016 (as amended in 2025). Pakistan's cybercrime law, passed in 2016. It makes offences of things done through phones, computers and the internet, including online defamation (section 20), glorifying terrorism (section 9), cyber terrorism (section 10) and, since 2025, spreading 'false or fake' information (section 26-A). It also lets the authorities order online content removed or blocked (section 37).

A plain-language explanation, not legal advice. The official text always takes precedence.

Official text

The official consolidated text, published by the Ministry of Law and Justice on Pakistan Code:

Read Section 21 in the official text ↗

Recent incidents citing this law

The following verified cases are currently mapped on Silenced under this law.

7 verified incidents whose report cites Section 21. Citations are read automatically from news reports and can be incomplete; inclusion does not verify the allegation.

  1. فیصل آباد: ’شادی سے انکار‘ کی پاداش میں قابل اعتراض اور تضحیک آمیز ویڈیوز وائرل ہونے کے برسوں بعد خدیجہ کو انصاف مل گیا

    · Faisalabad, Punjab · Enforced Disappearances · Disappearance · Law cited: PECA 3, 4, 16, 20, 21, 24

    ماخذ کے مطابق آن لائن سرگرمی سے منسلک اغوا کی اطلاع: «سوشل میڈیا پر وائرل ہونے والی ویڈیو میں ایک ڈری سہمی لڑکی سے کچھ لوگ زبردستی جوتے چٹواتے نظر آئے تھے۔»

    View on map · BBC Urdu ↗

  2. اسلام آباد، خاتون کو نازیبا تصاویر کے ذریعے بلیک میل کرنے والا ملزم گرفتار

    · Islamabad, Islamabad Capital Territory · Speech Consequences · Arrest · Law cited: PECA 21, 24

    نیشنل سائبر کرائم انویسٹی گیشن ایجنسی (این سی سی آئی اے) اسلام آباد نے خاتون کے سوشل میڈیا اکاؤنٹس تک رسائی کرکے ڈیٹا چوری کرنے اور پھر نازیبا تصاویر کے ذریعے بلیک میل کرنے میں ملوث ملزم کو گرفتار کرکے مقدمہ درج کرلیا۔ خاتون کی شکایت پر نیشنل سائبر کرائم انوسٹی گیشن ایجنسی نے انکوائری کی تو الزامات درست معلوم ہوئے، جس پر انوسٹی گیشن آفیسر سب انسپکٹر مصباح بتول کی سربراہی میں این سی سی آئی اے کی ٹیم نے ملزم کو چھاپہ مار کر گرفتار کرلیا۔

    View on map · Daily Express ↗

  3. خاتون کی قابلِ اعتراض ویڈیوز بناکر سوشل میڈیا پر وائرل کرنے والے ملزمان گرفتار

    · Islamabad, Islamabad Capital Territory · Speech Consequences · Arrest · Law cited: PECA 20, 21

    نیشنل سائبر کرائم انویسٹیگیشن ایجنسی اسلام آباد نے بڑی کارروائی کرتے ہوئے سوشل میڈیا پر قابلِ اعتراض ویڈیوز بنانے اور پھیلانے میں ملوث ملزمان کو گرفتار کر لیا۔ گرفتار ملزمان میں محمد شکیل اور شاہینہ بی بی شامل ہیں، تفتیش کے دوران یہ بھی ثابت ہوا کہ جرم میں استعمال ہونے والا موبائل نمبر ملزمہ کے نام پر رجسٹرڈ تھا۔

    View on map · Daily Express ↗

  4. Karachi man sentenced to six years in prison for creating fake Facebook accounts to blackmail woman

    · Karachi, Sindh · Speech Consequences · FIR · Law cited: PECA 20, 21, 24

    Source reports a criminal case (FIR) linked to online activity: "KARACHI: A judicial magistrate has sentenced a man to a total of six years in prison for creating fake Facebook accounts in his friend’s name and misusing them to share her inappropriate photographs in an attempt to blackmail her after she turned down his proposal for engagement."

    View on map · Dawn ↗

  5. Action taken against journalist under Peca for ‘provocative’ social media post

    · Islamabad, Islamabad Capital Territory · Speech Consequences · Violence · Law cited: PECA 21

    On March 20, journalist Farhan Mallick, the founder of media agency Raftar and a former news director at Samaa TV , was arrested in a case pertaining to running allegedly “anti-state” content on his outlet’s YouTube channel. Earlier this month, a police officer was arrested in Karachi under Peca for using “derogatory remarks” against President Asif Ali Zardari.

    View on map · Dawn ↗

  6. Police officer arrested in Karachi under Peca for using ‘derogatory remarks’ against President Zardari

    · Karachi, Sindh · Speech Consequences · Arrest · Law cited: PECA 21, 504

    A police officer was arrested in Karachi under the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (Peca) 2016 for using “derogatory remarks” against President Asif Ali Zardari, it emerged on Friday. According to a first information report, a copy of which is available with Dawn.com , the station investigation officer (SIO) had posted a comment on Facebook wherein he used “derogatory remarks against the late prime minister Benazir Bhutto and her husband and President Zardari.” The FIR, filed by Assistant…

    View on map · Dawn ↗

  7. Project Peca III: What goes around, comes around

    · Islamabad, Islamabad Capital Territory · Speech Consequences · Arrest · Law cited: PECA 10, 11, 13, 20, 21, 24, 37; PPC 124-A, 131, 500, 501, 505

    The year 2020 began on the heels of sedition cases against the Student Solidarity March organisers in December 2019 and PTM leader Manzoor Pashteen’s arrest in January, followed by the arrests of MNAs Mohsin Dawar and Ali Wazir as well as those of several AWP leaders. In the case of Umair Solangi, Executive Editor of AwamiKhabarnama.com , he tweeted that he was illegally detained by the FIA who picked him up at 9pm on October 21, 2020, releasing him the next day in the early hours at around 4am.

    View on map · Dawn ↗

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