Important Features of Pakistan Penal Code

Jurisdiction

Section 1. Title and extent of operation of the Code. This Act shall be called the Pakistan Penal Code, and shall take effect throughout Pakistan.
Section 4 The provisions of this Code apply also to any offence committed by

• any citizen of Pakistan or any person in the service of Pakistan in any place without and beyond Pakistan
• any person on any ship or aircraft registered in Pakistan wherever it may be.

Explanation: In this section the word "offence" includes every act committed outside Pakistan which, if committed in Pakistan, would be punishable under this Code. Extension of Code to extraterritorial offences.

Punishments in Pakistan Penal Code

Section 53:
The punishments to which offenders are liable under the provisions of this Code are:

• Firstly, Qisas
• Secondly, Diyat
• Thirdly, Arsh
• Fourthly, Daman
• Fifthly, Ta'zir
• Sixthly, Death
• Seventhly, Imprisonment for life
• Eighthly, Imprisonment which is of two descriptions, namely
  1. Rigorous, i.e., with hard labour
  2. Simple
• Ninthly, Forfeiture of property
• Tenthly, Fine

First five punishments are added by amendments and are Islamic Punishments.

OBJECTS AND PURPOSES OF PUNISHMENT

The object and purpose of punishment is the prevention of crime and every punishment is intended to have double effect, viz, to prevent the person who has committed a crime from repeating the act or omission and to prevent other members of community from committing similar crimes. The main object of awarding punishment for offences is to create such an atmosphere which may become a deterrence for the people who have propensities towards crime and thereby prevention of offences so that the society in which all the members have to live may not feel suffocated, distuebed and prone to unhealting environment. The measure of punishment therefore, must vary from time to time according to the condition of a particular crime and other circumstances. The object of punishments being preventive, Penal policy of state should be to protect the society.

THEORIES OF PUNISHMENT

1. DETERRENT

According to this theory the punishment is awarded to deter people from committing the crime. Emotion of fear play a vital role in man's life. The peole fear to commit the crime because it will render them to suffer. The fear of punishment put a check not only on criminal from committing further crime but also on all other evil minded. In spite of its weakness this has not entirely been eliminated from the policy of modern court of criminal justice. Hegal strongly supported this theory.

2. RETRIBUTIVE

The theory is based on the principle of an eye for an eye and tooth for tooth. The offender should be punished according to the nature of injury caused by him to the victim. In other words punishment should be in proportion to the injury caused by the accused. This theory does not look to the motive but to the intention in committing the crime. According to Salmond, t suffer punishment is to pay a debt due to the law that has been violated.

3. PREVENTIVE

This has also been called theory of dsablement as it aims at, preventing the crime by disabling the criminal. In order to prevent the repitition of crime , the offenders are punished with death, imrisonment for life. For example, a murder is commited by A and he is punished. Here A is punished not for having committed the murder, but in order that no further murder be committed. This theoty has been commented by many writers on the ground that prevention of crime can also be done by reforming the behaviour of the criminal.

4. REFORMATIVE

The object of punishment according to this theory should be to reform the criminals. The cime is a mental disease which is caused by different anti-social elements. Therefore, there should be a mental case of the criminal s instead of awrding them severe punishment. Much truth lies in the statement that to open a school is to close a prison. if a persons of criminal mind are educated and trained there will be a little or not at all possibility of any crime being committed by them. The punishment therefore should be curative or corrective because no body could be cure by killing. In modern times much imortance is given to reformation or rehabilitation of the criminals.specially the young offenders in whose case this theory has very successfully applied. This theory has however failed in the cases of professional and habitual offenders.