SilencedPPC Section 295-B: Defiling, etc., of copy of Holy Quran
Pakistan Penal Code (PPC), 1860
What this section covers
Official heading: Defiling, etc., of copy of Holy Quran
Wilfully defiling, damaging or desecrating a copy of the Holy Quran or using it in a derogatory manner.
Maximum penalty: Imprisonment for life
Part of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC), 1860. Pakistan's main criminal code, enacted in 1860 and amended many times since. It defines most crimes and their punishments. The sections tracked here are those reports cite in speech cases: conspiracy and sedition-type offences (121-A, 131), promoting enmity between groups (153-A), statements causing public mischief (505), criminal intimidation (506), and the blasphemy laws (295-A to 298-C).
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:
Recent incidents citing this law
The following verified cases are currently mapped on Silenced under this law.
30 verified incidents whose report cites 295-B. Citations are read automatically from news reports and can be incomplete; inclusion does not verify the allegation.
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Mentally challenged man held for blasphemy
SAHIWAL: Kasowal police on Friday arrested a man and registered a case against him on charges of desecrating the Holy Quran at Adda Iqbalnagar. Reports said Sub-Inspector Muhammad Ali of Okanwala Bangla police station was travelling with his team in an official vehicle when they received a call on 15 about the alleged desecration of the Holy Quran.
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Four sentenced to death in Lahore in 2022 blasphemy case
LAHORE: A sessions court on Saturday sentenced four men to death in a 2022 blasphemy case registered by the then cybercrime wing of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA). Each convict was sentenced to death and fined Rs500,000 under Section 295-C of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC), and given life imprisonment under Section 295-B.
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Creators, admins of WhatsApp groups not criminally liable for posts made by members: LHC
LAHORE: In a case pertaining to blasphemy, the Lahore High Court (LHC) on Thursday held that the “mere creation or administration of a WhatsApp group does not, by itself, make the creator or administrator criminally liable for every post made by its members”. The court issued the directives while denying post-arrest bail to a man accused of uploading and sharing blasphemous content through WhatsApp groups.
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Peshawar High Court upholds man’s life sentence in Quran desecration case
PESHAWAR: Peshawar High Court has upheld the life sentence awarded to a man by a trial court for desecrating the Holy Quran at a graveyard here over five years ago.
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توہین رسالت کا مقدمہ: جرم ثابت ہونے پر 3 ملزمان کو سزائے موت اور عمر قید کی سزا
توہین رسالت کیس میں جرم ثابت ہونے پر عدالت نے 3 ملزمان کو سزائے موت اور عمر قید کی سزا سنادی۔ ملزمان کے خلاف 2023 میں پیکا قوانین، 295 سی کے تحت مقدمہ درج کیا گیا تھا، ملزمان کا تعلق جنوبی وزیرستان، پشاور اور ڈی آئی خان سے ہے۔
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Man sentenced to death for blasphemy by Lahore sessions court
A Lahore sessions court sentenced a man to death on Wednesday for committing blasphemy against the Holy Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him), other Islamic figures and religious rituals. The first information report (FIR) — a copy of which is available with Dawn.com — of the case was filed at the Shahdara Town police station on September 29, 2020, by a member of the Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan party under Sections 295A (deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class…
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Peshawar doctor denied bail in blasphemy case
PESHAWAR: A local court has rejected bail plea of a doctor arrested on charges of desecration of the Holy Quran in Hayatabad Township last month. The judge observed that the accused-petitioner after his arrest rightly pointed out the place of occurrence where he admitted he had thrown away by desecrating the copies of the Holy Quran.
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سوشل میڈیا پر مذہبی تویین آمیز مواد پھیلانے پر 2 ملزمان کو سزائے موت سنادی گئی
ڈسٹرکٹ اینڈ سیشن کورٹ آسلام آباد نے سوشل میڈیا پر مذہبی توہین آمیز مواد پھیلانے کے الزامات پر 2 ملزمان کو سزائے موت سنا دی۔ سزائے موت اسلام آباد کے ایڈیشنل سیشن جج محمد افضل مجوکہ نے سنائی، ملزمان کے خلاف سوشل میڈیا پر توہین آمیز مواد پھیلانے پر ایف آئی اے سائبر کرائم ونگ اسلام آباد میں مقدمہ درج تھا۔
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Islamabad sessions court sentences 2 to death for blasphemy
Two men were sentenced to death by an Islamabad district and sessions court on Thursday for “proliferating blasphemous content” online. According to a first information report (FIR) registered by the Federal Investigation Agency in 2021 — a copy of which is available with Dawn.com — one of the convicts was arrested in Islamabad for creating and disseminating “blasphemous contents … in respect of the Holy Prophet [Peace Be Upon Him]” to a WhatsApp…
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4 men sentenced to death in Rawalpindi over ‘online blasphemy’: lawyer
A court in Rawalpindi sentenced four men to death for posting blasphemous content online, a prosecution lawyer told AFP on Monday. “They were sentenced to death … on Friday for spreading blasphemous content online against the Prophet Muhammad (PUBH) and the Quran,” Rao Abdur Raheem, a lawyer from the Legal Commission on Blasphemy Pakistan, a private group which brought the case to court, told AFP .
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Suspect in Quran desecration case remanded in KP police custody
The investigation officer informed the court that the suspect had allegedly desecrated the Holy Quran during a family brawl at his residence.
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Man jailed for life in blasphemy case in Karachi
KARACHI: A sessions court on Thursday sentenced a man to life imprisonment after convicting him of desecrating the Holy Quran in 2021 within the remits of the Korangi police station. Additional District and Sessions Judge (East) Shahid Ali Memon found the accused guilty and ruled that the prosecution had proven the charge of defiling copies of the Quran under Section 295-B of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) beyond a shadow of a doubt.
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Blasphemy case against two women in Kasur
Source reports a criminal case (FIR) linked to online activity: "The video of the incident that occurred on Friday went viral on social media on Saturday."
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Blasphemy accused sentenced to life in prison in Lahore
LAHORE: A sessions court has awarded life term to a man for committing blasphemy in a trial that remained suspended for about two years owing to his mental illness. On the complaint of an ASI, a case was registered under sections 295-B and 295-C of the PPC.
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Woman in Lahore gets life term for ‘blasphemy’
LAHORE: A sessions court on Thursday handed down life imprisonment to a woman on the charge of desecration of the Holy Quran. Hayer police registered the first information report of the incident in 2021 under section 295-B of Pakistan Penal Code against ‘A’, 40, a resident of Bedian Road.
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Christian couple arrested for alleged desecration in Lahore
LAHORE: A Christian couple was taken into custody after a blasphemy case was registered against them for allegedly desecrating a copy of the Holy Quran in the jurisdiction of North Cantonment Police Station on Saturday.
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Mobs burn Christian churches, homes in Pakistan after blasphemy allegations
Islamabad, Pakistan – Armed mobs have attacked at least two churches in Punjab province’s Jaranwala town accusing two Christian residents of blasphemy. Also reported by The Guardian and Dawn.
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Police rescue blasphemy suspect from lynch mob in Muzaffargarh
MUZAFFARGARH: Police with the help of area notables foiled on Monday a lynching attempt and rescued a man from a mob over alleged blasphemy and shifted him to some undisclosed location.
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Three arrested in Abbottabad for blasphemy
ABBOTTABAD: The police have arrested two brothers and a transgender person on charges of desecrating the holy Quran in Abbottabad and Havelian.
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Killer of blasphemy accused remanded in police custody
PESHAWAR: An anti-terrorism court on Thursday remanded the suspected killer of a man accused of blasphemy in police custody for three days. The blasphemy accused, Tahir Ahmad Naseem, was shot down inside a courtroom at the Judicial Complex here on Wednesday.
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Man shot dead for ‘blasphemy’ in Pakistan courtroom
A man accused of blasphemy for claiming that he was a prophet has been shot dead in a courtroom in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar, police officials say, the latest violence associated with Pakistan’s strict blasphemy laws. “The culprit accepts responsibility for killing him, and says that he killed him for having committed blasphemy,” said police official Ahmed. Also reported by The Guardian and Dawn.
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Man arrested in Rahim Yar Khan for allegedly desecrating Holy Quran
A man was arrested in Punjab's Rahim Yar Khan district on Friday for allegedly desecrating a copy of the Holy Quran. A First Information Report (FIR) of the incident was registered against the suspect under Section 295-B (defiling, etc., of Holy Quran) of the Pakistan Penal Code on the complaint of a resident of Manzoorabad.
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‘Blasphemy’ case at shrine in Sialkot
SIALKOT: A man was booked for allegedly desecrating the holy Quran inside a shrine at a local graveyard in Kot Chado village, Bheello Mahaar in Daska tehsil on Sunday. According to the first information report, a 45-year-old man was allegedly desecrating copies of the Quran when some locals saw him while passing by after Fajr prayers in a nearby mosque.
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Academic Junaid Hafeez sentenced to death on blasphemy charges by Multan court
A district and sessions court in Multan on Saturday sentenced Junaid Hafeez, a former university lecturer, to death on blasphemy charges. Formerly a visiting lecturer at the Department of English Literature of the Bahauddin Zakariya University (BZU), Multan, Hafeez was booked on blasphemy charges and was arrested by police on March 13, 2013.
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Riots erupt as Mirpurkhas vet booked in blasphemy case
Mirpurkhas police on late Monday registered a blasphemy case against a veterinary doctor in Phuladiyon and took him into custody. The doctor, who is from the Hindu community, was accused of blasphemy after a man alleged that he had provided medicines wrapped in paper that he claimed "had Quranic verses printed on them".
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Man absolved of blasphemy charges after nine years in prison
ISLAMABAD: A man accused of blasphemy won freedom on Friday after spending over nine years in jail. The Supreme Court absolved the 58-year-old of the blasphemy charges for want of evidence.
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Misuse of blasphemy law
WHEN the FIA informed the Islamabad High Court the other day that it had no evidence that the five bloggers abducted and detained for many days had committed blasphemy , it did not add anything to the people’s knowledge as they had known this fact all along. (A fifth victim was picked up later on.) Their abduction and detention had certain unique features.
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Christian teenager arrested in Punjab over alleged blasphemy
A Christian teenager was arrested and imprisoned for allegedly burning pages of the Holy Quran in a village near Wazirabad, Punjab, officials said Sunday. Alipur Chattha police station official Asghar Ali told AFP: "On the night of August 12, police received a complaint that a Christian boy had been found burning pages of the Holy Quran outside a shrine." Ali claimed the 18-year-old had been caught "red-handed" shortly after the complaint had been registered against…
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The hands that killed Mashal
The brutal murder of Mashal Khan in the hostel of Mardan’s Abdul Wali Khan University, after being accused of unspecified blasphemy, has generated an unprecedented wave of public outrage.
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One arrest made in social media blasphemy case, interior ministry tells IHC
As the hearing of a petition seeking removal of blasphemous content from social media resumed on Wednesday, Islamabad High Court (IHC) Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui was told that the interior ministry had made one arrest in the case, while the names of several have been put on the Exit Control List (ECL).