Lahore police's senior command has proposed making Section 420 non-bailable, a change it says would give fraud victims greater relief. Section 420 of the Pakistan Penal Code covers cheating and dishonestly inducing the delivery of property. Under the current law the offence is still bailable, which means an accused person can generally seek bail as of right rather than at a court's discretion.
Why the police want the change
The proposal follows a series of court rulings on a closely related offence, Section 406 of the Penal Code, which deals with criminal breach of trust in property matters. The higher judiciary has repeatedly held that breach of trust during litigation could not be established in most cases, calling it a grave miscarriage of justice when people were jailed for offences that were not prima facie, meaning not made out on the face of the record. A senior official said most complaints of fraud and cheating should be treated under Section 420, but police had been lodging first information reports (FIRs) under Section 406, which embarrassed the police high command.
The investigation wing has reportedly cancelled more than 200 cases lodged under Section 406 in police stations across the city. It has also issued new standard operating procedures (SOPs), which follow Supreme Court judgements holding that merely not returning money or breaching a contract does not amount to an offence under Section 406. For that section to apply, the official said, property must first be entrusted to a person and then dishonestly misappropriated or converted.
The proposal was discussed at a meeting chaired by Lahore Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Bilal Siddique Kamyana. Investigation DIG Zeshan Raza, SSP Mohammad Naveed and the divisional investigation superintendents of police were also present, and follow-up meetings were held to discuss the legal question further.
What the lawyer and the police say
Senior lawyer Omais Chaudhry said his law firm had already proposed similar amendments to Section 420. He said the rise in complaints reflects heavy investment in property and online business, and he listed land scams, fake investment schemes, business fraud, and digital and cyber fraud among the offences. He argued that victims rarely get justice because of procedural delays, a lack of expertise and weak enforcement, and that few suspects are punished in Punjab.
Chaudhry also said his firm had submitted recommendations to a law reforms committee set up by the Punjab government. He noted that the section was originally drafted as part of the Indian Penal Code under British colonial rule, and was later adopted into Pakistan's penal code. He described it as a 166-year-old law that still treats a serious financial crime as bailable.
What happens next
The Section 420 non-bailable proposal is currently a recommendation from the Lahore police, and no timeline for any change has been announced. Changing the Penal Code requires legislation, so the offence would remain bailable until an amendment is formally made. Until then, complaints of cheating and fraud will continue to be registered under the existing provisions.
Aasan alfaaz mein
Lahore police ne Section 420 ko non-bailable banane ki tajweez di hai, taake dhokay ka shikar logon ko zyada relief mile. Abhi yeh jurm bailable hai, yani mulzim aam taur par zamanat le sakta hai. Police ka kehna hai ke kai shikayaat ghalat tor par Section 406 ke tahat darj ho rahi thin, jinmein se 200 se zyada cases cancel ho chuke hain. Agar yeh tajweez qanoon ban gayi, to dhokebaazi ke mulzim ki zamanat ka faisla adalat karegi.
