354. Assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty:

Whoever assaults or uses criminal force to any woman, intending to outrage or knowing it to be likely that he will thereby outrage her modesty, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to two years or with fine, or with both.

509 Insulting modesty or causing sexual harassment:

Whoever,

a. intending to insult the modesty of any woman, utters any word, makes any sound or gesture, or exhibits any object, intending that such word or sound shall be heard, or that such gesture or object shall be seen, by such woman, or intrudes upon the privacy of such woman;

b. conducts sexual advances, or demands sexual favours or uses verbal or non-verbal communication or physical conduct of a sexual nature which intends to annoy, insult, intimidate or threaten the other person or commits such acts at the premises of workplace, or makes submission to such conduct either explicitly or implicitly a term or condition of an individual’s employment, or makes submission to or rejection of such conduct by an individual a basis for employment decision affecting such individual, or retaliates because of rejection of such behaviour, or conducts such behaviour with the intention of unreasonably interfering with an individual’s work performance or creating an intimidating, hostile,, or offensive working environment; shall be punished with imprisonment which may extend to three years or with fine up to five hundred thousand rupees or with both.

Explanation 1: Such behaviour might occur in public place, including, but not limited to, markets, public transport, streets or parks, or it might occur in private places including, but not limited to workplaces, private gatherings, or homes.

Explanation 2: Workplace means, the place of work or the premises where an organization or employer operates, this may be a specific building, factory, open area or a larger geographical area where the activities of the organization are carried out. Sexual advances may occur after working hours and outside workplace. It is the access that a perpetrator has to the person being harrassed by virtue of a job situation or job related functions and activities.

The Protection against Harassment of Women at the Workplace Act 2010 provides for the protection against harassment of women at the workplace. This Act was recently amended in 2022. The Protection Against Harassment of Women at the Workplace (Amendment) Act 2022 has extended the application of the act by adding in the definition of “employee” the informal workers without a contract, freelancers, domestic workers, interns, trainees, apprentices, students, performers, artists, sportspersons, etc, and by extending the definition of “workplace” to anyplace where services are rendered or performed by professionals, including educational institutions, gigs, concerts, studios, performance facilities, courts, highways, sporting facilities, gymnasiums etc.

The Protection Against Harassment of Women at the Workplace (Amendment) Act 2022 has also redefined the expression ‘harassment’.’Harassment’ means:

any unwelcome sexual advance, request for sexual favours, stalking or cyberstalking or other verbal, visual or written communication or physical conduct of a sexual nature or sexually demeaning attitudes, including any gestures or expression conveying derogatory connotation causing interference with work performance or creating an intimidating, hostile or offensive work environment, or the attempt to punish the complainant for refusal to comply to such a request or is made a condition for employment; or

discrimination on basis of gender, which may or may not be sexual in nature, but which may embody a discriminatory and prejudicial mind set or notion, resulting in discriminatory behavior on basis of gender against the complainant.

The Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act 2016 Section 20 provides for offences against dignity of a natural person

1. Whoever intentionally and publicly exhibits or displays or transmits any information through any information system, which he knows to be false, and intimidates or harms the reputation or privacy of a natural person, shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years or with fine which may extend to one million rupees or with both: Provided that nothing under this sub-section shall apply to anything aired by a broadcast media or distribution service licensed under the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority Ordinance, 2002 (XIII of2002).

2. Any aggrieved person or his guardian, where such person is a minor, may apply to the Authority for removal, destruction of or blocking access to such information referred to in sub-section (l) and the Authority on receipt of such application, shall forthwith pass such orders as deemed reasonable in the circumstances including an order for removal, destruction, preventing transmission of or blocking access to such information and the Authority may also direct any of its Iicensees to secure such information including traffic data,.

Section 21 provides for offences against modesty of a natural person and minor

Whoever intentionally and publicly exhibits or displays or transmits any information which (a) superimposes a photograph of the face of a [natural person over any sexually explicit image or video; or (b) includes a photograph or a video of a natural person in sexually explicit conduct; or (c) intimidates a natural person with any sexual act, or any sexually explicit image or video of a natural person; or (d) cultivates, entices or induces a natural person to engage in a sexually explicit act, through an information system to harm a natural person[ or his reputation, or to take revenge, or to create hatred or to blackmail, shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to five years or with fine which may extend to five million rupees or with both.

Whoever commits an offence under sub-section (1) with respect to a minor shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to seven years and with fine which may extend to five million rupees:

Provided that in case of a person who has been previously convicted of an offence under subsection (1) with respect to a minor shall be punished with imprisonment for a term of ten years and with fine.

– Legal information verified by Ms. Naz Toosy, Barrister-at-Law.