Silenced

Online speech and its consequences in Pakistan, 2016 to present

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PPC Section 298-B: Misuse of epithets, descriptions and titles, etc., reserved for certain holy personages or places

Pakistan Penal Code (PPC), 1860

What this section covers

Official heading: Misuse of epithets, descriptions and titles, etc., reserved for certain holy personages or places

Applies to members of the Ahmadi community using Islamic epithets, titles or descriptions.

Maximum penalty: Up to 3 years, 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:

Read 298-B in the official text ↗

Recent incidents citing this law

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

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

  1. “A Conspiracy to Grab the Land”

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

    Source reports a death sentence linked to online activity: "[1] Increasingly, those alleging blasphemy have based their accusations on comments made on social media."

    View on map · Human Rights Watch ↗

  2. 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 ↗

  3. 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 ↗

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