LAHORE: The Lahore police’s senior command has proposed amendments to the 166-year-old Section 420 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) (Cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property) to make such an offence non-bailable, as was done in the neighbouring India in 1974, with a prime objective of extending relief to the victims, after facing escalating complaints of cheating and fraud.

The provincial capital police came up with this proposal ultimately when the higher judiciary took up many times the individual legal matter of lodging FIRs under Section 406 of the PPC (Criminal breach of trust in property matters) and held that in most cases criminal breach of trust during litigation could not be established, declaring it a grave miscarriage of justice, resulting in confinement of a person to jail for an offence that is not prima facie made out.

Following the seriousness of the issue, the investigation wing of the Lahore police has reportedly cancelled more than 200 cases lodged under Section 406 of the PPC in various police stations of the city and issued new Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) to be followed strictly while dealing with the investigations into the individual offences in future.

A senior official says that amendments to the Section 420 were proposed in order to address the grievances of the affectees as an alternative way to punish the fraudsters, as both the above-mentioned criminal offences were usually related to the dishonest acquisition or loss of property, often overlapping in commercial and financial disputes.

Also issue new SOPs for FIRs under Section 406 of the PPC dealing with breach of trust as per SC judgements

He says that most complaints of fraud and cheating were liable to be treated as a criminal offence under Section 420. However, the police have been lodging FIRs of non-bailable offences under Section 406, causing embarrassment for the police high command as the same were taken up recently by the higher courts.

He says the police high command held a series of meetings in this respect in Lahore to brainstorm this legal issue.

An important meeting on the issue was held here the other day, presided over by Lahore Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Bilal Siddique Kamyana, where the decisions regarding these sections of the PPC were taken. Investigation DIG Zeshan Raza, SSP Mohammad Naveed and all the divisional investigation SPs were also present.

Separate follow-up meetings, presided over by investigation wing DIG, were also held to deliberate on the issue.

Talking about the significance of the legal matter, a senior lawyer, Omais Chaudhry, says that his law firm has already proposed similar amendments to the Section 420 of the PPC.

He says the rising public complaints of fraud and cheating are surfacing in society where massive investment in property and online businesses has increased manifold.

“Offences range from land scams, fake investment schemes and business fraud, to digital and cyber fraud,” Mr Omais says, adding that despite the existing laws, victims rarely get justice due to procedural delays, lack of expertise and poor enforcement.

He laments that an offence under the 166-year-old law is still bailable despite being a serious financial crime. He adds that under the prevailing legal provisions, hardly a few suspects get punishment in Punjab for the offence.

To a question, the lawyer says that his firm had submitted recommendations to the law reforms committee constituted by the Punjab government. Originally drafted as part of the Indian Penal Code under British colonial rule, the Section 420 was later adopted as part of the Pakistan Penal Code, he says.

About the new SOPs, the senior official says the guidelines were issued in light of the Supreme Court judgements, which held that merely not returning money or breach of a contractual obligation does not constitute an offence under Section 406 of the PPC.

For the application of Section 406, entrusting the property and its dishonest misappropriation or conversion in breach of trust must be established, he maintains.

Published in Dawn, October 20th, 2026