SilencedPPC Section 295-C: Use of derogatory remarks, etc., in respect of the Holy Prophet
Pakistan Penal Code (PPC), 1860
What this section covers
Official heading: Use of derogatory remarks, etc., in respect of the Holy Prophet
Defiling the name of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) by words, spoken or written, visible representation, imputation, innuendo or insinuation. The most frequently invoked blasphemy provision. The original text also allowed life imprisonment, but the Federal Shariat Court struck those words out with effect from 30 April 1991 (PLD 1991 FSC 10), so death is the only punishment now on the statute.
Maximum penalty: Death, and fine
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.
45 verified incidents whose report cites 295-C. Citations are read automatically from news reports and can be incomplete; inclusion does not verify the allegation.
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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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HRCP report paints grim picture of minority rights
Similarly, girls belonging to Christian and Hindu communities continued to face abductions and forced marriages, compounded by poverty and inadequate police responses, the report said. Minority rights defender Nabila Feroz Bhatti highlighted the case of Kamran Gill, a Christian medical practitioner from Sheikhupura, whose dispensary was set ablaze by a mob on Oct 9 following allegations that he had shared blasphemous content on social media.
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قصور میں جلا کر قتل کیا گیا مسیحی جوڑا اور انصاف کے منتظر اہلخانہ کی کہانی: ’مطلب ہمارے لوگ قتل ہی نہیں ہوئے؟‘
ماخذ کے مطابق آن لائن سرگرمی سے منسلک ہجوم کا تشدد کی اطلاع: «YouTube پوسٹ کا اختتام مواد دستیاب نہیں ہے فیصلے میں استغاثہ کے مقدمے میں موجود تضادات کو بریت کی بنیادی وجہ قرار دیا گیا۔»
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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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Pakistan: Quash Longstanding Blasphemy Case
(New York) – Pakistani authorities should quash the unjust conviction of Junaid Hafeez, who was sentenced to death in 2013 under Pakistan’s draconian blasphemy laws, Human Rights Watch said today. Hafeez’s 13 years in prison raise grave concerns about the lack of due process and the broader misuse of the country’s blasphemy laws.
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NCCIA moves appeal before Supreme Court in blasphemy case
ISLAMABAD: The National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) on Tuesday approached the Supreme Court, challenging the October 28, 2025, acquittal of an Islamabad-based woman by the Lahore High Court’s Rawalpindi Bench in a blasphemy case.
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Supreme Court acquits man on death row for ‘blasphemy’
ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court has acquitted a 74-year-old Christian man, who was diagnosed with a mental illness, of blasphemy charges after overturning the June 30, 2014 Lahore High Court’s (LHC) order confirming his death sentence.
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Engineer Muhammad Ali Mirza detained under MPO, also booked under blasphemy charges
Jhelum police said on Tuesday that they have detained cleric Engineer Muhammad Ali Mirza for 30 days under the Maintenance of Public Order (MPO) ordinance for alleged controversial remarks and later booked him under blasphemy charges.
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عدالت نے پولیس کو یوٹیوبر رجب بٹ کو گرفتار کرنے سے روک دیا
سیشن کورٹ لاہور نے پولیس کو یوٹیوبر رجب بٹ کو گرفتار کرنے سے روک دیا سیشن کورٹ لاہور میں یوٹیوبر رجب بٹ کی عبوری ضمانت کی درخواست پر سماعت ہوئی، ایڈیشنل سیشن جج سلیمان گھمن نے عبوری ضمانت پر سماعت کی۔ عدالت نے پولیس کو رجٹ بٹ کو گرفتار کرنے سے 21 جون تک روک دیا، عدالت نے رجب بٹ کو شامل تفتیش ہونے کی ہدایت کردی۔
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“A Conspiracy to Grab the Land”
Source reports a death sentence linked to online activity: "[1] Increasingly, those alleging blasphemy have based their accusations on comments made on social media."
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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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Jaranwala riots case: Man handed down death, 10-year term with Rs3m fine
On Aug 16, 2023, riots erupted at Jaranwala over the issue of alleged desecration of the Holy Quran, and a mob torched a number of churches and houses of Christian community members. At the conclusion of trial proceedings, ATC Judge Javed Iqbal Sheikh handed down capital punishment to an accused under section 295-C of the PPC, with a fine of Rs2 million.
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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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Blasphemy convict on death row acquitted in Rawalpindi
ISLAMABAD: The Lahore High Court (LHC), Rawalpindi bench, has acquitted a man previously sentenced to death on blasphemy charges, citing insufficient evidence and inconsistencies in witness testimonies.
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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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Seminary sealed, 18 booked over ‘blasphemy’
Source reports a criminal case (FIR) linked to online activity: "Police found around 15 to 18 people regularly spreading hate material and blasphemous content in print and at online platforms."
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Blasphemy suspect killed in Mirpurkhas ‘police encounter’
MIRPURKHAS/UMERKOT: An Umerkot-based doctor, Shah Nawaz Kunhbar, was shot dead by police in an alleged extra-judicial killing in Mirpurkhas on Thursday, a day after he was booked on allegations of blasphemy. On Wednesday, the medical professional was booked by Umerkot police under Section 295-C of the Pakistan Penal Code for allegedly posting ‘blasphemous content’ on Facebook following protests by religious parties.
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Doctor booked over blasphemy charge in Umerkot
UMERKOT: Police have booked a doctor allegedly for sharing blasphemous posts on social media after certain religious parties staged a violent protest to demand strict action against the suspect. Also reported by The Guardian.
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Quetta police station attacked amid protest against ‘blasphemy’
QUETTA: The Kharotabad police station came under a grenade attack during a violent protest on Wednesday as an enraged mob demanded that the police hand over a blasphemy suspect to them. Police arrested the suspect after registering a case against him on blasphemy charges.
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Man jailed in Hyderabad for 25 years in blasphemy case
HYDERABAD: An additional district judge on Tuesday sentenced an accused in a blasphemy case to 25 years of rigorous imprisonment after a trial conducted inside Hyderabad central jail.
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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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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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Man gets death penalty in blasphemy case in AJK
MUZAFFARABAD: An additional district criminal court in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) on Saturday handed down capital punishment and imposed a fine of Rs1 million on a man charged with blasphemy. The decision under Section 295C of the Pakistan Penal Code was pronounced by the court comprising Judges Mohammad Ikram Malik and Ajmal Mahmood Shaheen in Dhirkot subdivision of Bagh district.
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LHC acquits Christian couple in blasphemy case
The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Thursday acquitted a Christian couple who were sentenced to death more than seven years ago for committing blasphemy. Shafqat Emmanuel, the watchman of a school in Toba Tek Singh district's Gojra, and his wife Shagufta Masih were arrested in July 2013 under Section 295-C [use of derogatory remarks, etc., in respect of the Holy Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him)] of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) on the charge of sending blasphemous text… Also reported by The Guardian and Al Jazeera.
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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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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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Man acquitted in blasphemy case after 18 years in prison
ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Wednesday acquitted a man who had been condemned to death in a blasphemy case in 2002 and had consequently remained behind bars for 18 years. A three-judge bench, headed by Justice Sajjad Ali Shah, exonerated Wajih-ul-Hassan from blasphemy charges under Section 295-C (use of derogatory remarks, etc., in respect of the Holy Prophet [Peace Be Upon Him]) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) for want of concrete evidence against him.
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Court sentences Lahore man to death over blasphemy
A sessions court in Lahore sentenced a man to death in a three-year-old blasphemy case and fined him Rs200,000. In 2016, police had filed a first information report against a man identified as Saleem under Section 295-C of the Pakistan Penal Code after he had uttered blasphemous remarks in a public place in the Lohari Gate area.
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SC to hear review petition against Aasia Bibi's acquittal on Jan 29
The Supreme Court on Thursday fixed for hearing a review petition over the court's decision to overturn Aasia Bibi's conviction in a blasphemy case. On October 30, 2018, the apex court had acquitted Aasia, a Christian mother condemned to death on blasphemy charges, accepting her appeal against her sentencing.
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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 man arrested on blasphemy charge in Gujrat
GUJRAT: Police on Friday arrested a Christian man hailing from Kharian tehsil after registering a case against him on a blasphemy charge.
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First death sentence handed to man for blasphemy on social media
An Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) on Saturday sentenced a man to death for sharing blasphemous content about Islam on social media, a government prosecutor said.
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Our darkest moments
It includes the 12-year-old who lost his life in the town of Hub on Thursday, after a mob resorted to aerial firing in their hunt for a citizen, from a minority community, accused of blasphemy. When a group of five bloggers were abducted by the state apparatus, the only charge that emerged against them was of anti-religious and anti-establishment provocation.
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Boy killed, policeman hurt in mob protest over ‘blasphemy’
QUETTA / KHUZDAR: A 12-year-old boy was killed and a police constable seriously injured by gunfire on Thursday after an unruly mob in the industrial town of Hub protested the sharing of alleged blasphemous content by a member of a minority community.
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Violence erupts in Hub as police refuse to hand Hindu man suspected of blasphemy over to enraged mob
Violence erupted in Lasbela district's Hub area after police refused to hand over a Hindu man suspected of blasphemy to an angry mob, DawnNews reported, with locals resorting to pelting stones at police when their demands were not met. Prakash Kumar, a local business owner, was suspected of sharing a picture containing allegedly blasphemous content on WhatsApp, Hub police officials said.
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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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Mob attacks man in Chitral accused of making 'blasphemous remarks'
A mob attacked a man and beat him brutally inside a mosque in Chitral after he was accused of uttering blasphemous remarks following Friday prayers. Eyewitnesses claim the man then uttered 'blasphemous remarks' amidst the prayer gathering.
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Three sisters kill man booked for blasphemy in Sialkot
SIALKOT: Three armed burqa-clad sisters on Wednesday shot dead a man near Sialkot after accusing him of committing blasphemy 13 years ago.
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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).
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IHC orders blasphemers' names be put on ECL
The case was filed by Salman Shahid (son-in-law of Abdul Aziz of Lal Masjid fame). Secretary interior assured the court that all possible measures would be taken to remove the content from social media and arrest the culprits.
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Action against ‘blasphemous’ websites sought
The petitioner said last year he approached the FIA to lodge an FIR against those running the alleged blasphemous websites. He was assured that the bloggers would be booked under Section 295-C of the Pakistan Penal Code after seeking a legal opinion from the legal branch.
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LHC acquits blasphemy accused after five years
CHAKWAL: The Rawalpindi bench of the Lahore High Court (LHC) has freed a man who was sentenced to death over blasphemy allegations five years ago.