YouTuber Rajab Butt assaulted by lawyers at Karachi District Court

KARACHI:

YouTuber Rajab Butt was assaulted by a group of lawyers at the Karachi District Court on Monday after a hearing in a case against him over the alleged insult of Islamic symbols, his lawyers and witnesses said.

The attack came after Butt appeared before an additional district and sessions judge who heard his bail application but adjourned the case without any substantive order.

“Today lawyers and I of my office in Karachi were present in the court premises of District Court Karachi during the hearing of my client Rajab Butt when a few lawyers attacked Rajab Butt with deadly intent in our presence as a result of which he was injured,” Butt’s lawyer Mian Ali Ashfaq said in a post on X.

“Despite our continued efforts to stop the ongoing beating, it continued,” he added.

According to people present at the court, an exchange of words broke out immediately after the hearing between Butt and several lawyers in the court premises. The argument escalated into a fight, after which Butt was beaten.

Read: Lahore court grants interim bail to Rajab Butt, Nadeem Mubarak

His defense lawyers tried to intervene and stop the assault. Butt was later escorted out of the district court.

Lawyers involved in the confrontation linked it to remarks Butt allegedly made online after an earlier court appearance.

“Rajab had said that the person who got the case registered against me does not look like a lawyer,” they said. They also said that Butt had called for a case to be registered against them.

Some lawyers said they took a pledge from Butt that he “will not do such an act again”.

Others issued a warning, saying, “This is what will happen to anyone who speaks out against lawyers.”

The police were not immediately available to comment on whether action had been taken in connection with the assault.

The bail application is scheduled to be processed again on January 13.

The case registered against Butt at Haidri police station is still under investigation.

Case history

Rajab Butt has been under scrutiny over blasphemy-related allegations since earlier this year after launching a perfume labeled “295”, a reference to Section 295 of Pakistan’s blasphemy law.

The launch sparked backlash and accusations that the branding flouted the law.

An FIR was later registered against him under the Electronic Crime Prevention Act and Section 295-A of the Pakistan Penal Code, which deals with offending religious beliefs.

In March 2025, Butt released an apology video from Masjid-e-Haram in Mecca while performing Umrah. He said he had done nothing on purpose and asked people to “purify your hearts” before him.

He said the video linked to the controversy had been misunderstood, claimed a word had been edited and announced the discontinuation of the perfume. He also appealed to religious scholars, the Punjab government and the Pakistan Army to reconsider the charges.

The FIR was filed by Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan leader Haider Ali Shah Gillani. If convicted, Butt faces up to 10 years in prison on the charges.