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Online speech and its consequences in Pakistan, 2016 to present

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PPC Section 298-A: Use of derogatory remarks, etc., in respect of holy personages

Pakistan Penal Code (PPC), 1860

What this section covers

Official heading: Use of derogatory remarks, etc., in respect of holy personages

Derogatory remarks about the wives, family members, companions or caliphs of the Holy Prophet (PBUH).

Maximum penalty: Up to 3 years, or fine, or both

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:

Read 298-A in the official text ↗

Recent incidents citing this law

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

21 verified incidents whose report cites 298-A. Citations are read automatically from news reports and can be incomplete; inclusion does not verify the allegation.

  1. Four sentenced to death in Lahore in 2022 blasphemy case

    · Lahore, Punjab · Blasphemy Cases · Blasphemy · Law cited: PECA 11; PPC 295-A, 295-B, 295-C, 298-A

    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.

    View on map · Dawn ↗

  2. شیخوپورہ: توہین مذہب کے الزام میں مشتعل ہجوم نے مسیحی شخص کا گھر اور دکان نذر آتش کردیا: ’ابو نے کہا ضروری چیزیں اٹھاؤ اور فوراً گھر سے نکلو‘

    · Sheikhupura, Punjab · Blasphemy Cases · Blasphemy · Law cited: PPC 295, 298, 298-A

    پنجاب کے ضلع شیخوپورہ کی تحصیل نارنگ منڈی کے گاؤں گھڑیال کلاں میں توہین مذہب کے الزام پر مشتعل ہجوم کی جانب سے ایک مسیحی شخص کا گھر اور دکان نذر آتش کیے جانے کے بعد مسیحی برادری میں خوف کا احساس ہے جبکہ پولیس نے ملزم کے خلاف توہین مذہب جبکہ مشتعل ہجوم میں شامل افراد کے خلاف انسدادِ دہشت گردی کی دفعات کے تحت دو مختلف…

    View on map · BBC Urdu ↗

  3. Creators, admins of WhatsApp groups not criminally liable for posts made by members: LHC

    · Lahore, Punjab · Blasphemy Cases · Blasphemy · Law cited: PECA 11; PPC 295-A, 295-B, 295-C, 298-A

    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.

    View on map · Dawn ↗

  4. NCCIA moves appeal before Supreme Court in blasphemy case

    · Rawalpindi, Punjab · Blasphemy Cases · Blasphemy · Law cited: PECA 11, 295-A, 295-C, 298-A; PPC 295-A, 295-C, 298-A

    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.

    View on map · Dawn ↗

  7. توہین رسالت کا مقدمہ: جرم ثابت ہونے پر 3 ملزمان کو سزائے موت اور عمر قید کی سزا

    · South Waziristan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa · Blasphemy Cases · Blasphemy · Law cited: PPC 295-B, 295-C, 298-A

    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۔

    View on map · Daily Express ↗

  10. Man sentenced to death for blasphemy by Lahore sessions court

    · Lahore, Punjab · Blasphemy Cases · Blasphemy · Law cited: PECA 11; PPC 295-A, 295-B, 295-C, 298-A

    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…

    View on map · Dawn ↗

  11. Blasphemy convict on death row acquitted in Rawalpindi

    · Lahore, Punjab · Blasphemy Cases · Blasphemy · Law cited: PPC 295-C, 298-A

    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.

    View on map · Dawn ↗

  12. سوشل میڈیا پر مذہبی تویین آمیز مواد پھیلانے پر 2 ملزمان کو سزائے موت سنادی گئی

    · Islamabad, Islamabad Capital Territory · Blasphemy Cases · Blasphemy · Law cited: PPC 295-B, 295-C, 298-A

    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۔

    View on map · Daily Express ↗

  13. Islamabad sessions court sentences 2 to death for blasphemy

    · Islamabad, Islamabad Capital Territory · Blasphemy Cases · Blasphemy · Law cited: PECA 11; PPC 295-A, 295-B, 295-C, 298-A

    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…

    View on map · Dawn ↗

  14. 4 men sentenced to death in Rawalpindi over ‘online blasphemy’: lawyer

    · Rawalpindi, Punjab · Blasphemy Cases · Blasphemy · Law cited: PECA 11; PPC 295-A, 295-B, 295-C, 298-A

    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 .

    View on map · Dawn ↗

  15. Man gets five-year RI for blasphemy on social media

    · Lahore, Punjab · Blasphemy Cases · Blasphemy · Law cited: PECA 11; PPC 298-A

    LAHORE: In a first-of-its-kind conviction in the country as claimed by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), a special court for cybercrime offences on Thursday awarded five-year rigorous imprisonment to a man for posting blasphemous material on social media. Sajid Ali was charged for posting “sacrilegious, blasphemous and derogatory material against Hazrat Umar (R.A)” on Facebook in 2017.

    View on map · Dawn ↗

  16. Man sent to Adiala jail on blasphemy charge

    · Islamabad, Islamabad Capital Territory · Blasphemy Cases · Blasphemy · Law cited: PPC 295-A, 298-A

    Source reports an arrest linked to online activity: "According to the complaint lodged with the Golra police station, the suspect having a Facebook account allegedly posts derogatory comments in response to the posts in praise of holy personalities."

    View on map · Dawn ↗

  17. Man sent to prison in blasphemy case

    · Islamabad, Islamabad Capital Territory · Blasphemy Cases · Blasphemy · Law cited: PPC 295-A, 298-A

    ISLAMABAD: A judicial magistrate remanded a man in judicial custody for 14 days in a blasphemy case on Saturday. The man has been booked and arrested in a case registered against him at the Shams Colony police under Sections 295-A (deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) and 298-A (use of derogatory remarks, etc., in respect of holy…

    View on map · Dawn ↗

  18. Misuse of blasphemy law

    · Islamabad, Islamabad Capital Territory · Blasphemy Cases · Blasphemy · Law cited: PPC 295, 295-A, 295-B, 295-C, 298-A, 298-B, 298-C

    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.

    View on map · Dawn ↗

  19. One arrest made in social media blasphemy case, interior ministry tells IHC

    · Islamabad, Islamabad Capital Territory · Blasphemy Cases · Blasphemy · Law cited: PECA 11; PPC 295-A, 295-B, 295-C, 298-A, 298-B

    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).

    View on map · Dawn ↗

  20. IHC orders blasphemers' names be put on ECL

    · Islamabad, Islamabad Capital Territory · Blasphemy Cases · Blasphemy · Law cited: PPC 295-A, 295-C, 298-A

    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.

    View on map · Dawn ↗

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