Last Updated: Sunday July 27, 2008
Act No. XIX of 1923
[
Preamble.--- An Act to consolidate and
amend the law in
WHEREAS it is
expedient that the law relating to official secrets in
It is hereby
enacted as follows:‑--
1. Short title, and
application.‑--(1) This Act may be called the Official
Secrets’ Act, 1923.
(2) It extends
to the whole of
2. Definitions.--- In
this Act, unless there is anything repugnant in the subject or context,‑--
(1) any
reference to a place belonging to Government includes a place occupied by any
department of the Government, whether the place is or is not actually vested in
Government;
(2) expressions
referring to communicating or receiving
include any communicating or receiving, whether in whole or in part, and
whether the sketch, plan, model, article, note, document, or information itself
or the substance, effect or description thereof only be communicated or
received; expressions referring to obtaining or retaining any sketch, plan,
model, article, note or document, include the copying or causing to be copied
of the whole or any part of any sketch, plan, model, article, note, or
document; and expressions referring to the communication of any sketch, plan,
model, article, rote or document include the transfer or transmission of the
sketch, plan, model, article, note or document;
(2A)
“appropriate Government” means, in relation to matters enumerated in the
Federal Legislative List in the Fourth Schedule to the Constitution, the
Federal Government and, in relation to any other matter, the Provincial
Government;
(3) “document”
includes part of a document;
(4) “model”
includes design, pattern and specimen;
(5) “munitions
of war” includes the whole or any part of any ship, submarine, aircraft, tank
or similar engine, arms and ammunition, torpedo, or mine intended or adopted
for use in war, and any other article, material, or device, whether actual or
proposed, intended for such use;
(6) “Office
under Government” includes any office or
employment in or under any department of the Government;
(7)
“photograph” includes an undeveloped film or plate;
(8) “prohibited
place” means,‑--
(a) any work of
defence, arsenal naval, military or air force
establishment or station, mine, minefield, camp, ship or aircraft belonging to,
or occupied by or on behalf of Government, any military telegraph or telephone
so belonging or occupied, any wireless or signal station or office so belonging
or occupied and any factory, dockyard or other place so belonging or occupied
and used for the purpose of building, repairing, making or storing any
munitions of war, or any sketches, plans, models or documents relating thereto,
or for the purpose of getting any metals, oil or minerals of use in time of
war;
(b) any place
not belonging to Government whore any munitions of war or any sketches, models,
plans or documents relating thereto are being made, repaired, gotten or stored
under contract with, or with any person on behalf of, Government, or
otherwise on behalf of Government;
(c) any place
belonging to or used for the purpose of Government which is for the time being
declared by the appropriate Government, by notification in the official
Gazette, to be a prohibited place for the purposes of this Act on the ground
that information with respect thereto, or damage thereto, would be useful to an
enemy, and to which a copy of the notification in respect thereof has been
affixed in English and in the vernacular of the locality;
(d) any
railway, road, way or channel, or other means of communication by land or water
(including any works or structures being part thereof or connected therewith)
or any place used for gas, water or electricity works or other works for
purposes of a public character, or any place where any munitions of war or any
sketches, models, plans, or documents relating thereto, are being made,
repaired or stored otherwise than on behalf of Government, which is for the
time being declared by the appropriate Government by notification in the
official Gazette, to be a prohibited place for the purposes of this Act on the
ground that information with respect thereto, or the destruction or obstruction
thereof, or interference there with, would be useful to an enemy, and to which
a copy of the notification in respect thereof has been affixed in English and
in the vernacular of the locality:---
Provided that
where for declaring a prohibited place under sub‑clause (c) or sub‑clause
(d) a notification in the official Gazette is not considered desirable in the
interest of the security of the State, such declaration may be made by an order
a copy or notice of which shall be prominently displayed at the point of entry
to, or at a conspicuous place near, the prohibited place.
(9) “sketch”
includes any photograph or other mode of representing any place or thing; and
(10)
“Superintendent of Police” includes any police officer of alike or superior
rank, and any person upon whom the powers of a Superintendent of Police are for
the purposes of this Act conferred by the appropriate Government;
3. Penalties for spying.--‑(1)
If any person for any purpose prejudicial to the safety or interests of the
State:‑--
(a) approaches,
inspects, passes over or is in the vicinity of, or enters, any prohibited
place; or
(b) makes any
sketch, plan, model, or note which is calculated to be or might be or is
intended to be, directly or indirectly, useful to an enemy; or
(c) obtains,
collects, records or publishes or communicates to any other person any secret
official code or pass word, or any sketch, plan, model, article or note or
other document or information which is calculated to be or might be or is
intended to be, directly or indirectly, useful to an enemy; he shall be guilty
of an offence under this section.
(2) On a prosecution for an offence punishable under this
section with imprisonment for a term which may extend to fourteen years, it
shall not be necessary to show that the accused person was guilty of any
particular act tending to show a purpose prejudicial to the safety or interests
of the State, and, notwithstanding that no such act is proved against him, he
may be convicted if, from the circumstances of the case or his conduct or his
known character as proved, it appears that his purpose was a purpose
prejudicial to the safety or interests of the State; and if any sketch, plan,
model, article, note, document, or information relating to or used in any
prohibited place, or relating to anything in such a place, or any secret
official code or pass word is made, obtained, collected, recorded, published or
communicated by any person other than a person acting under lawful authority,
and from the circumstances of the case or his conduct or his known character as
proved it appears that his purpose was a purpose prejudicial to the safety or
interests of the State, such sketch, plan, model, article, note, document or
information shall be presumed to have been made, obtained, collected, recorded,
published or communicated for a purpose prejudicial to the safety or interests
of the State.
(3) A person
guilty of an offence under this section shall be punishable,‑--
(a) where the offence committed is intended or calculated to
be, directly or indirectly, in the interest or for the benefit of a foreign
power, or is in relation to any work of defence,
arsenal, naval, military of air force establishment or station, mine,
minefield, factory, dockyard, camp, ship or aircraft or otherwise in relation
to the naval, military or air force affairs of Pakistan or in relation to any
secret official code, with death, or with imprisonment for a term which may
extend to fourteen years; and
(b) in any
other case, with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years.
3A. Restriction against
photographs, sketches etc., of prohibited and notified areas.--‑(1)
No person shall, except under the authority of a written permit granted by or
on behalf of the appropriate Government, make any photograph, sketch, plan,
model, note or representation of any kind of any prohibited place or of any
other place or area, notified by the appropriate Government has a place or area
with regard to which such restriction appears a to that Government to be
expedient in the interests of the security of Pakistan, or of any part of or
object in any such place or area.
(2) The
4[appropriate Government] may, by general or special order make provision for
securing that no photograph, sketch, plan, model, note or representation of any
kind made under the authority of a permit granted in pursuance of subsection
(1) shall be published unless and until the sane has been submitted to and
approved by such authority or person as may be specified in the order, and may
retain or destroy or otherwise dispose of anything so submitted.
(3) If any
person contravenes any of the provisions of this section, he shall be punished
with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years or with fine or
with both.
(4) The Federal
Government may by notification in the official Gazette empower any
Provincial Government to exercise all or any of the powers exercisable by the
Federal Government under this section, or under sub‑clause (c) or sub‑clause
(d) of clause (8) of section 2, or under clause (10) of that section.
4. Wrongful communication,
etc., information.--‑(1) In any proceedings against a person for
an offence under section 3, the fact that he has been in
communication with, or attempted to communicate with, a foreign agent, whether
within or without Pakistan, shall be relevant for the purpose of proving that
he has, for a purpose prejudicial to the safety or interests of the State,
obtained or attempted to obtain information which is calculated to be or might
be, or is intended to be, directly or indirectly, useful to an enemy.
(2) For the
purpose of this section, but without prejudice to the generality of the
foregoing provision,‑--
(a) a person
may be presumed to have been in communication with a foreign agent if,‑--
(i) he has, either within or without
(ii) either
within or without
(b) the
expression “foreign agent” includes any person who is or has been or in respect
of whom it appears that there are reasonable grounds for suspecting him of
being or having been employed by a foreign power, either directly or
indirectly, for the purpose of committing an act, either within or without
Pakistan, prejudicial to the safety or interests of the State, or who has or is
reasonably suspected of having, either within or without Pakistan, committed,
or attempted to commit, such an act in the interests of a foreign power;
(c) any
address, whether within or without Pakistan, in respect of which it appears
that there are reasonable grounds for suspecting it of being an address used
for the receipt of communications intended for a foreign agent; or any address
at which a foreign agent resides, or to which he resorts for the purpose of
giving or receiving communications, or at which he carries on any business, may
be presumed to be the address of a foreign agent, and communications addressed
to such an address to be communications with a foreign agent.
5. Unauthorised use of uniforms;
falsification of reports, forgery, personation and
false documents.--‑(1) If any person having in his possession
or control any secret official code or pass word or any sketch, plan, model,
article, note, document or information which relates to or is used in a
prohibited place or relates to anything in such a place, or which has been made
or obtained in contravention of this Act, or which has been entrusted in
confidence to him by any person holding office under Government, or which he
has obtained or to which he has had access owing to his position as a person
who holds or has held office under Government, or as a person who holds or has
held a contract made on behalf of Government, or as a person who is or has been
employed under a person who holds or has held such an office or contract,‑--
(a) willfully
communicates the code or pass word, sketch, plan, model, article, note,
document or information to any person other than a person to whom he is authorised to communicate it, or a Court of Justice or a
person to whom it is, in the interests of the State, his duty to communicate
it; or
(b) uses the
information in his possession for the benefit of any foreign power or in any
other manner prejudicial to the safety of the State; or
(e) retains the
sketch, plan, model, article, note or document in his possession or control
when he has no right to retain it, or when it is contrary to his duty to retain
it, or willfully fails to comply with all directions issued by lawful authority
with regard to the return or disposal thereof; or
(d) fails to
take reasonable care of, or so conducts himself as to endanger the safety of,
the sketch, plan, model, article, note, document, secret official code or pass
word or information; he shall be guilty of an offence under this
section.
(2) If any
person voluntarily receives any secret official code or pass word or any
sketch, plan, model, article, note, document or information knowing or having
reasonable ground to believe, at the time when he receives it, that the code,
pass word, sketch, plan, model, article, note, document or information is
communicated in contravention of this Act, he shall be guilty of an offence
under this section.
(3) A person
guilty of an offence under this section shall be punishable,‑‑-
(a) where
the offence committed is a contravention of clause (a) of sub‑section (1)
and intended or calculated to be, directly or indirectly, in the interest or
for the benefit of a foreign power, or is in relation to any work of defence, arsenal, naval, military or air force establishment
or station, mine, mine‑field, factory, dockyard, camp, ship or aircraft
or otherwise in relation to the naval, military or air force affairs of
Pakistan or in relation to any secret official code, with death, or with imprisonment
for a term which may extend to fourteen years; and
(b) in
any other case, with imprisonment for a term which may extend to two years, or
with fine, or with both.
6. Unauthorised use of uniforms;
falsification of reports, forgery, personation and false
documents‑-‑(1) If any person for the purpose of gaining
admission or of assisting any other person to gain admission to a prohibited
place or for any other purpose prejudicial to the safety of the State,---
(a) uses or
wears, without lawful authority, any naval, military, air force, police or
other official uniform, or any uniform so nearly resembling the same as to be
calculated to deceive, or falsely represents himself to be a person who is or
has been entitled to use or wear any such uniform; or
(b) orally,
or in writing in any declaration or application, or in any document signed by
him or on his behalf, knowingly makes or connives at the making of any false
statement or any omission; or
(c) forges,
alters, or tampers with any passport or any naval, military, air-force, police,
or official pass, permit, certificate, licence, or
other document of a similar character (hereinafter in this section referred to
as an official document) or knowingly uses or has in his possession any such
forged, altered, or irregular official document; or
(d) personates,
or falsely represents himself to be, a person holding, or in the employment of
a person holding office under Government, or to be or not to be a person to
whom an official document or secret official code or pass word has been duly
issued or communicated, or with intent to obtain an official document, secret
official code or pass word, whether for himself or any other person, knowingly
makes any false statement; or
(e) uses, or
has in his possession or under his control, without the authority of the
department of the Government or the authority concerned, any die, seal or
stamp of or belonging to, or used, made or provided by, any department of the
Government, or by any diplomatic, naval, military or air force authority
appointed by or acting under the authority of Government, or any die, seal or
stamp so nearly resembling any such die, seal or stamp as to be calculated to
deceive, or counterfeits any such die, seal or stamp, or knowingly uses, or has
in his possession or under his control, any such counterfeited die, seal or
stamp, he shall be guilty of an offence under this section.
(2) If any
person for any purpose prejudicial to the safety of the State,‑--
(a) retains any
official document, whether or not completed or issued for use, when he has no
right to retain it, or when it is contrary to his duty to retain it, or
willfully fails to comply with any directions issued by any department of the
Government or any person authorised by such
department with regard to the return or disposal thereof; or
(b) allows any
other person to have possession of any official document issued for his use
alone, or communicates any secret official code or pass word so issued, or,
without, lawful authority or excuse, has in his possession any official
document or secret official code or pass word issued for the use of some person
other than himself, or, on obtaining possession of any official document by
finding or otherwise, willfully fails to restore it to the person or authority
by whom or for whose use it was issued, or to a police officer; or
(c) without
lawful authority or excuse, manufactures or sells, or has in his possession for
sale, any such die, seal or stamp as aforesaid; he shall be guilty of an
offence under this section.
(3) A person
guilty of an offence under this section shall be punishable with imprisonment
for a term which may extend to two years, or with fine, or with both.
(4) The
provisions of sub‑section (2) of section 3 shall apply, for the purpose of
proving a purpose prejudicial to the safety of the State, to any prosecution
for an offence under this section relating to the naval, military or air force
affairs of Government, or to any secret official cod, in like manner as they
apply, for the purpose of proving a purpose prejudicial to the safety or
interests of the State, to prosecutions for offences punishable under that
section with imprisonment for a term which may extend to fourteen years.
7. Interfering with officers
of the police or members of the armed forces of Pakistan.‑--(1)
No person in the vicinity of any prohibited place shall obstruct, knowingly
mislead or otherwise interfere with or impede, any police officer, or any
member of the armed forces of Pakistan engaged on guard, sentry, patrol, or
other similar duty in relation to the prohibited place.
(2) If any
person acts in contravention of the provisions of this section, he shall be
punishable with imprisonment which may extend to two years, or with fine, or
with both.
8. Duty of giving information
as to commission of offences.‑--(1) It shall be the duty of
every person to give on demand to a Superintendent of Police, or other police
officer not below the rank of Inspector, empowered by an Inspector‑General
in this behalf, or to any member of the armed forces of Pakistan engaged on
guard, sentry, patrol or other similar duty, any information in his power
relating to an offence or suspected offence under section 3 or under section 3
read with section 9 and, if so required, and upon tender of his reasonable
expenses, to attend at such reasonable time and place as may be specified for
the purpose of furnishing such information.
(2) If any
person fails to give ante such information of to attend as aforesaid, he shall
be punishable with imprisonment which may extend to two years, or with fine, or
with both.
9. Attempts, incitements, etc.--- Any
person who attempts to commit or abets the commission of an offence under this
Act shall be punishable with the same punishment, and be liable to be proceeded
against in the same manner as if he had committed such offence.
10. Penalty for harbouring
spies.--‑(1) If any person knowingly harbours
any person whom he knows or has reasonable grounds for supposing to be a person
who is about to commit or who has committed an offence under section 3 or under
section 3 read with section 9 or knowingly permits to meet or assemble in any
premises in his occupation or under his control any such persons, he shall be
guilty of an offence under this section.
(2) It shall be
the duty of every person having harboured any such
person as aforesaid or permitted to meet or assemble in any premises in his
occupation or under his control any such arsons as aforesaid, to give on demand
to a Superintendent of Police or other police officer not below the rank of
Inspector empowered by an Inspector‑General in this behalf, any information
in his power relating to any such person or persons, and if any person fails to
give any such information, he shall be guilty of an offence under this section.
(3) A person
guilty of an offence under this section shall be punishable with imprisonment
for a term which may extend to one year, or with fine, or with both.
11. Search warrants.--‑(1) If,
Magistrate of the first class or Sub‑divisional Magistrate is satisfied,
by information on oath that there is reasonable ground for suspecting that an
offence under this Act has been or is about to be committed; he may grant a
search‑warrant authorising any police officer
named therein, not being below the rank of an officer in charge of a police
station, to enter at any time any premises or place named in the warrant, if
necessary, by force, and to search the premises or place and every person found
therein, and to seize any sketch, plan, model, article, note or document; or
anything of alike nature, or anything which is evidence of an offence under
this Act having been or being about to be committed which he may find on the
promises or place or any such person, and with regard to or in connection with
which he has reasonable ground for suspecting that an offence under this Act
has been or is about to be committed.
(2) Where it
appears to a police officer, not being below the rank of
Superintendent, that the case is one of great emergency, and that in the interests
of the State immediate action is necessary, he may by a written order under his
hand give to any police officer the like authority as may be given by the
warrant of a Magistrate under this section.
(3) Where
action has been taken by a police officer under sub‑section (2) he shall,
as soon as may be, report such action to the District or Sub‑divisional
Magistrate.
12. Power to arrest. Notwithstanding
anything in the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898,‑--
(b) an
offence under this Act, other than an offence punishable with imprisonment for
a term which may extend to fourteen years, shall be a cognizable and bailable offence; and
(c) any member
of the armed forces of Pakistan may, without an order from a Magistrate and
without a warrant, arrest, in or in the vicinity of a prohibited place, any
person who has been concerned in an offence under section 3, or under section 3
read with section 9, or under clause (a) or clause (b) of sub‑section (1)
of section 5, or under clause (a) of sub‑section (1) of section 6, or
against whom a reasonable complaint has been made or credible information has
been received, or a reasonable suspicion exists of his having been so
concerned, and shall without unnecessary delay take or send the person
arrested before a Magistrate having jurisdiction on the case or before an
officer in charge of a police‑station, and thereupon the provisions of
the said Code applicable in respect of a person who, having been arrested
without warrant, has been taken or sent before a Magistrate or before an
officer in charge of a police‑station shall apply to him.
13. Restriction on trial of offences.--‑(1)
No Court other than that of a Magistrate of the first class specially empowered
in this behalf by the appropriate Government shall try any offence under this
Act.
(2) If any
person under trial before a Magistrate for an offence under this Act at any
time before a charge is framed claims to be tried by the Court of Session, the
Magistrate shall, if he does not discharge the accused, commit the case for
trial by that Court, notwithstanding that it is not a case exclusively triable by that Court.
(3) No Court
shall take cognizance of any offence under this Act unless upon complaint made
by order of, or under authority from, the appropriate Government or some
officer empowered by the appropriate Government] in this behalf,---
Provided that a
person charged with such an offence may be arrested, or a warrant for his
arrest may be issued and executed, and any such person may be remanded in
custody or on bail, notwithstanding that such complaint has not been made, but
no further or other proceedings shall be taken until such complaint has been
made.
(4) For the
purposes of the trial of a person for an offence under this Act, the offence
may be deemed to have been committed either at the place in which the same
actually was committed or at any place in
(6) The
appropriate Government may, if it thinks fit, by general or special order direct that the procedure for the
trial of an offence under section 3,
or under section 3 read with section 9, or under clause (a) or clause
(b) of sub‑section (1) of section 5, or under clause (a) of sub‑section
(,l) of section 6 shall be that prescribed for offences under the Enemy Agents’ Ordinance, 1943, or under the Pakistan
Criminal Law, Amendment Act, 1958.
14. Exclusion of public from proceedings.---
In addition and without prejudice to any powers which a Court may possess to
order the exclusion of the public from any proceedings if, in the course of
proceedings before, a Court against any person for an offence under this Act or
the proceeding on appeal, or in the course of the trial of a person under this
Act, application is made by the prosecution, off, the, ground that the
publication of any evidence to be given or of any statement to be made in the
course of the proceedings would be prejudicial, to the safety of the State,
that all or any portion of the public shall be excluded during any part of the
hearing, the Court may make an, order to that effect, but the passing of
sentence shall in any case take place in public.
15. Offences by companies, etc.--- Where
the person guilty of an offence under this Act is a company or corporation,
every director and officer of the company or corporation with whose knowledge,
and consent; the offence was committed
shall be guilty of the like offence.
16. Repeals. Rep. by the Repealing Act, 1927
(XII of 1927), s. 2 and Schedule.
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