Fake stamp paper: what's the punishment in Pakistan?

Key points

• Section 260 punishes whoever uses a stamp as genuine "knowing it to be a counterfeit": up to seven years, or fine, or both.
• If you did not know, your deal is the problem: it is not admitted in evidence until the duty and a penalty of ten times it are paid (Stamp Act, section 35).
• The seller who "knows or has reason to believe" it is counterfeit can face up to seven years and a fine (section 258).
• Whoever makes a fake stamp, or "knowingly performs any part of the process of counterfeiting", can face imprisonment for life (section 255).
• Buy stamp paper only from a licensed vendor; in Punjab a real e-stamp carries a bar code or its own identification code (section 2(11A)).

Fake stamp paper punishment in Pakistan: the short answer

You asked about fake stamp paper: your deal is written on one, and a friend says you will go to jail. Half right. Section 260 of the Pakistan Penal Code punishes whoever "uses as genuine any stamp knowing it to be a counterfeit" of a Government revenue stamp, with up to seven years, a fine, or both. The words that matter are knowing it to be a counterfeit.

People search this as fake stamp paper punishment, stamp duty punishment and stamp paper law in Pakistan. The short version: using it knowingly is a crime; selling it knowingly is a crime; making it is a serious crime; and an innocent buyer's deal still needs the duty and a penalty before a court takes it as evidence.

Your deal: duty and ten times it

Section 35 of the Stamp Act says: "No instrument chargeable with duty shall be admitted in evidence" for any purpose, or acted upon, registered or authenticated, "unless such instrument is duly stamped". A paper with a counterfeit stamp is not duly stamped.

Proviso (a) gives the way back: the instrument is admitted in evidence on payment of the duty, or the amount needed to make it up, together with a penalty of five rupees or, when ten times the duty is more, "a sum equal to ten times such duty or portion". Whether a plain-paper agreement is still valid is a different question; our guide on agreements not on stamp paper covers it.

How to check before you buy

Buy stamp paper only from a licensed stamp vendor. In Punjab, section 2(11A) of the Stamp Act defines an e-stamp as a paper "containing a bar code or having any of its unique identification code", generated when the duty is deposited in the Government's account. Look for that code before you sign.

We read these sections in FAI Legal's Statute Search, each quoted from the section itself. FAI holds the Punjab text of the Stamp Act; other provinces' rules can differ, so check the one in force where you live.

The seller: seven years

Section 258 punishes whoever sells, or offers for sale, any stamp "which he knows or has reason to believe to be a counterfeit" of a Government revenue stamp, with up to seven years and a fine. A seller cannot hide behind not checking when he had reason to believe.

The maker: up to life

Section 255 punishes whoever counterfeits, or "knowingly performs any part of the process of counterfeiting", any stamp issued by Government for revenue, with imprisonment for life or up to ten years, and a fine. Making fake stamps is the most serious of the three.

What to do if your stamp paper may be fake

Do not use a stamp you know is fake: that is what section 260 punishes. Keep the paper and the vendor's details, and speak to a lawyer about your deal and the duty. Our page on agreements not on stamp paper explains what happens to an unstamped deal in court.

Ask FAI Legal

FAI Legal is a website: open failegal.site in your phone's browser, there is nothing to download. Before you sign, pay or go to court, check the law. Citizens ask their legal question in plain words, lawyers search the judgments, and law students read the exact section. Your case may be different: speak to a lawyer about your own facts.

The case at a glance

Facts

A buyer's deal is written on stamp paper that may be fake; a friend says he will go to jail. The reel's people are drawn; there is no real case.

The question

Is using fake stamp paper a crime, what happens to the deal, and what do the seller and the maker face?

What the Court held

Using a fake stamp as genuine is punishable only where the user knows it is counterfeit (section 260, up to seven years); the seller who knows or has reason to believe faces up to seven years (section 258); the maker faces up to life (section 255); a deal that is not duly stamped is admitted in evidence only on payment of the duty and a penalty of ten times it (Stamp Act section 35).

Why

Each rule is in the statute's own words: the knowledge in sections 260 and 258, the counterfeiting in section 255, the bar on evidence and the penalty in section 35, and the e-stamp's code in section 2(11A).

Limits

No court ruling is cited. FAI holds the Punjab text of the Stamp Act; other provinces can differ. Whether a person knew or had reason to believe depends on the facts; speak to a lawyer about your own case.

The law it relies on

What this does not mean

• It does not mean a fake stamp is harmless if you did not know. Your deal is not admitted in evidence until the duty and a penalty of ten times it are paid.
• It does not mean you can keep using a stamp once you know it is fake. From then on, section 260's words fit.
• It does not describe any online or SMS check of an e-stamp: FAI holds no such text. Buy from a licensed vendor and look for the code.
• The reel's buyer, friend, clerk, vendor, seller and maker are a picture of the question; nobody real is shown or named.

Questions people ask

Sources

• Pakistan Penal Code, s.255, s.258, s.260 text checked in FAI Statute Search, 15 November 2026 Pakistan Code
• The Stamp Act (Punjab text), s.35, s.2(11A) text checked in FAI Statute Search, 15 November 2026

Every quote and section above is traced to the full judgment or statute text by an automatic check that runs on every update.

What the reel says