KARACHI: YouTuber Rajab Butt was assaulted inside a Karachi sessions court on Monday during proceedings in a case filed against him for allegedly hurting religious sentiments, sparking scenes of disorder within the court premises.
Butt had appeared before the sessions court (Central) following the expiry of his interim bail, which had been granted on December 20. The hearing quickly descended into chaos when he was attacked, disrupting the judicial process.
His lawyer, Mian Ali Ashfaq, said in a statement posted on social media platform X that Butt was assaulted by a group of lawyers at the Karachi City Courts during the hearing. He said the attack took place in his presence and left his client injured.
Ashfaq said the assailants continued beating Butt despite repeated requests to stop, calling the incident deeply unprofessional. He warned that such actions undermined the credibility and standing of the legal community and reflected a disturbing trend of taking the law into one’s own hands.
He added that if lawyers repeatedly become parties to cases and resort to violence against private litigants on court premises, public respect for the profession would suffer long-term damage. Describing the incident as deeply regrettable, he said such conduct had no place in a civilised society.
Videos circulated after the incident showed Butt moving through a crowd with his shirt torn in several places. Another clip showed him walking alongside a group of lawyers chanting slogans in support of the Karachi Bar. Among them was Riaz Solangi, the complainant in the case against Butt.
In the video, Solangi alleged that Butt had previously released content using inappropriate language about lawyers. Another individual, appearing to be a lawyer, said the assault was a response to Butt’s remarks and warned that anyone who spoke against lawyers would face similar consequences.
TikToker Nadeem Mubarak, also known as Nani Wala, was also present at the court and appeared briefly in one of the videos. Both Mubarak and Butt have been involved in multiple legal cases and had returned to Pakistan together on December 10 from London after the Islamabad High Court granted them 10-day protective bail on petitions filed by their relatives.
Butt’s interim bail in the case heard on Monday has now been extended until January 13.
The case stems from a complaint filed by Solangi in January at the Hyderi Market police station under Section 295-A of the Pakistan Penal Code. According to the FIR, the complainant said he had seen a viral video from December 2024 in which Butt was allegedly shown offering prayers while music played in the background.
The FIR was registered after a sessions court approved an application under Section 22-A, directing the police to formally register the case. Following the backlash and the spread of the video on social media, Butt released a series of videos on his official Facebook page in January, in which he appeared alongside religious scholars from various schools of thought.
In the three-part video message, Butt offered an apology, saying his actions were unintentional and expressing regret if anyone’s religious sentiments had been hurt.
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