Name: IBADULLAH SHAH

Roll no: BL-1465

Class: BA-LLB
Section: A
Subject: CRIMINAL LAW - II

ASSIGNMENT NO. 01

Topic: OFFENCES AFFECTING THE PUBLIC HEALTH,

SAFETY, CONVENIENCE, DECENCY AND MORALS

Submitted to: Prof. ABDUL GHAFFAR KORAI

 OFFENCES AFFECTING THE PUBLIC HEALTH, SAFETY,
CONVENIENCE, DECENCY AND MORALS

The Pakistan Penal Code in chapter XIV from sections 268 to 294A deals with the
offence of public nuisance. These offences include affecting public health, safety,
convenience, decency and morals.
PUBLIC NUISANCE:
Section 268 of PPC deals with public nuisance. It is defined as an act which either
tends to disturb the public in general or to disregard anything that is required for the
common good. Nuisance is a French term which means ‘to harm’ or ‘to injure’. Anything
that causes hurt, inconvenience, or damage or which essentially interferes with the
enjoyment of life or property. The public nuisance is based on the maxim “sic utere tuo ut
rem publikum non laedas” which means to enjoy your property in such a way as to not
injure the rights of the public.
The objective of this chapter is to safeguard the public health; safety and
convenience by making those acts which pollute the environment or threaten endanger
public health directly or indirectly have been brought under the purview of the penal code.
 Public Health Section 269-278
 Public Safety Section 279 to 291
 Public Morals and Decency Section 292 to 294A
Chapter XIV is a comprehensive document on public nuisance. It consists of 28
sections. Eleven principles have been made publishable under this code.

IN THE CASE OF, PUBLIC HEALTH:

i. Spread of infections: Sections 269-270 deals with this in detail, it is necessary for
the preservation of society that no one should jeopardise its existence by any
criminal, unlawful or negligent act. The current COVID-19, coronavirus, would be an
example under this section, someone escaping quarantine and endangering people
in society could be criminally liable under this section. Some of the diseases that are
dangerous to life are Syphilis, smallpox, Cholera, Plague, AIDS.
ii. Adulteration of food, drink and drugs: Section 271 deals with adulteration of food
and drink intended for sale and the next section deals with the sale of noxious drink.
It is an offence to knowingly sell food unfit for consumption or mix the same with
other food and supply it as food for human consumption. Adulteration means
infusion of some foreign substance or mixing of food, drink or drugs with other
articles of inferior quality or deleterious character.
iii. Fouling water: Section 277 deals with when water has been made foul in a public
spring or reservoir to render it less fit for the purpose for which it is ordinarily used,
this is punishable under this section. The purpose for which the water is ordinarily
used must be considered in determining whether there has been a voluntary
corruption, within the meaning of this section. The words ‘corrupts’ or ‘fouls’ means
 some act which physically defiles or fouls the water, bathing in a  tank or spitting
into a public well fouls drinking water.
iv. Making the atmosphere noxious to health: Section 278 deals with a specific form of
public nuisance and not a private nuisance. It punishes the public nuisance of
vitiating the atmosphere of a place in such a  manner as to make it noxious to the
health of all the people living and carrying their business in the neighbourhood or
passing along a public way.
PUNISHMENT: It has been provided under Section 269 of PPC the person punished with
imprisonment for a term that may extend to six months, or fine, or both, while under
section 270 of PPC that such people will be punished with imprisonment of either for a
term that may extend to two years, or fine, or both, as Section 270 is an aggravated form
of the offence under Section 269. The term ‘malignantly’ used in Section 270 connotes the
mens rea of the accused who acted maliciously by deliberately spreading the infection.
Thus, severe punishment is prescribed under Section 270 as compared to Section 269.
Under section 277 shall be punished with either simple or rigorous imprisonment which
may extend up to three months, or with the fine maximum five hundred rupees, or both. A
person under section 278 shall be punished with a fine extending up to five hundred
rupees.

IN THE CASE OF, PUBLIC SAFETY:

i. Rash driving: Section 279 deals with rash or negligent driving that endangers the life
or is likely to cause hurt or injury to any person. The accused was riding rashly,
negligently without exercising due care for the safety of others which a prudent
man might reasonably be expected to exercise, he would be guilty under this
section.
ii. Rash navigation: Section 280 & 282 deals with rash navigation, these sections deal
with the cases of rash navigation of a vessel on the sea and all waterways, public or
private lakes but not to navigation on the high seas. 282 deals with conveying
passengers by water for hire in an unsafe or overloaded vessel. The section is not
only confined to overloading but also the conveyance of a passenger in an unsafe
vessel.
iii. Endangering public ways: Section 281 deals with exhibition of false signals to a
vessel with a desire to mislead a navigator. Due to the gravity of this offence,
punishment in such cases may extend to seven years imprisonment or fine or both.
Section 283 deals with the causing of danger or obstruction in a public way or public
line of navigation an offence. This section seeks to punish persons who do acts
causing danger, obstruction or injury to any person in a public way.
iv. Negligent handling of poisons, combustibles and explosives: Sections 284 to 289
require absolute care on the part of those handling substances, such as poisons,
which may prove dangerous to life, if not handled carefully. These sections deal
with negligent conduct concerning fire, machinery, explosive substances, repairing
buildings, pulling down buildings, animals and so on.
PUNISHMENT: A person held liable under section 279 shall be punished with either simple
or rigorous imprisonment for a term that may extend up to six months, or with fine
maximum up to one thousand rupees, or with both. A person held guilty under Section 280
of the Code shall be punished with either simple or rigorous imprisonment for a term that
may extend for six months, or fine of one thousand rupees, or with both. A person held
guilty under section 281 shall be punished with either simple or rigorous imprisonment for
a term that may extend up to seven years, or fine, or with both. A person under section
282 shall be punished with either simple or rigorous imprisonment for a term that may
extend to six months, or with the fine maximum up to one thousand rupees, or with both.
A person held guilty under section 284 shall be punished with either simple or rigorous
imprisonment maximum up to six months or with fine extending up to one thousand
rupees, or with both. A person held guilty under section 285 shall be punished with either
simple or rigorous imprisonment maximum up to six months or with the fine maximum up
to one thousand rupees, or with both. A person held guilty under section 286 shall be
punished with either simple or rigorous imprisonment maximum up to six months or with
the fine maximum up to one thousand rupees, or both. A person held guilty under section
288 shall be punished with either simple or rigorous imprisonment extending up to six
months, or with the fine maximum up to one thousand rupees, or both. A person held
guilty under section 289 shall be punished with either simple or rigorous imprisonment
extending up to six months, or with fine maximum of one thousand rupees, or both. No
punishment has been provided under section 290. A person held guilty under section 291
shall be punished with simple imprisonment extending up to six months, or fine, or both.

IN THE CASE OF, PUBLIC MORALS AND DECENCY:

i. Spread of obscenity: Section 292 deals with sale, etc., of obscene books, etc., the
fundamental object and purpose of criminal law is to protect and conserve the
safety and security of primary personal rights of individuals, such as right to life,
body, right to property, habitation etc,. But also to protect and guard morals and
public decency and to conserve the moral welfare of the state. A careful perusal of
the provisions in section 292 would reveal the word obscenity has not been defined.
However, judicial attempts to explain the words have indicated a test to explain the
context. The test of obscenity given Cockburn,CJ of the House of Lords in R. v.
Hicklin stated the test of obscenity is this, whether the tendency of the matter
charged as obscenity is to deprave and corrupt those whose minds are open to such
immoral influence and into whose hands a publication of this sort may fall. It is
quite certain that it would suggest to the minds of the young of either sex, or even
to persons or more advanced year, thoughts of a most impure and lubricious
character.
Section 293 deals with sale of obscene books to young people, and 294 deals
with obscene acts and songs.
ii. Public gambling: Section 294A prohibits the keeping of any lottery office to draw
any lottery etc and provides punishment of imprisonment upto six months or fine or
both. The lottery is treated on the same footing as gambling because a lottery is a
distribution of prizes by lot or chance without the use of any skill as in gambling. The
section makes an exception in favour of state-owned or sponsored lotteries.
PUNISHMENTS: A person held guilty under section 292 shall be punished with on being
convicted for the first time with imprisonment maximum up to two years, and with fine up
to two thousand rupees, and, in the case of a second or subsequent conviction, with
imprisonment maximum up to five years, along with fine up to five thousand rupees. A
person guilty under section 293 while being convicted for the first time, shall be punished,
with either a simple or rigorous imprisonment for a term maximum up to three years, all
along with fine that may extend up to two thousand rupees, and, while being convicted on
subsequent occasions, with simple or rigorous imprisonment for a term extending up to
seven years, and with fine that may extend up to five thousand rupees. A person held
liable under section 294 shall be punished either with simple or rigorous imprisonment for
a term that may extend to three months, or fine, or with both. The first point of section
294-A says that if any person keeps any place or office for the purpose of drawing such
lottery that is neither a State lottery nor it is authorized by the State Government, shall be
punished with simple or rigorous imprisonment for a term maximum up to six months, or
fine, or both. The second point of this section penalizes the publication of any proposal
related to a lottery that is not authorized by the government. If someone does so he shall
be punished with a fine extending up to one thousand rupees. The offence under Section
294-A of the Code is non-cognizable, bailable and non-compoundable, and is triable by any
magistrate.