YouTuber Rajab Butt has been charged with blasphemy and violating Peca rules due to the’religious commotion’ produced by a perfume launch.

YouTuber Rajab Butt has been charged with blasphemy and cybercrime after causing a “religious stir” with the debut of his perfume business, which reportedly insulted Pakistan’s blasphemy legislation, according to reports on Tuesday.

Butt has one of the country’s greatest internet followings and has been involved in controversy for years, including his temporary custody of a lion cub.

Butt debuted his “295” perfume in a recent video, which has since been removed from his social media sites. The name refers to the eponymous blasphemy legislation in the Pakistan Penal Code.
He said it stemmed from a complaint filed against him last year over an earlier video considered blasphemous by hardliners.

His perfume publicity sparked additional outrage, prompting a leader of the religiopolitical Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) party to file a first information report (FIR) at Lahore’s Nishtar Colony Police Station on Monday under PPC Sections 295-A (insulting religious beliefs) and 11 (hate speech) of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (Peca) of 2016.

Butt was accused of spreading “anti-religious content” in his videos, according to the FIR, which Dawn.com has seen.

The complainant, TLP leader Haider Ali Shah Gillani, stated that he was watching movies on his mobile phone on Sunday when he came across one featuring Butt.

According to the FIR, Butt was referring to the earlier blasphemy case against him and the laws under which he was accused in the video, noting that his “mentor” — the late Indian artist Sidhu Moose Wala — was also charged with similar laws. The film also shows Butt branding his new cologne after the aforementioned statute, PPC Section 295.

It stated that Butt had “hurt religious sentiments and violated the blasphemy laws.”

Blasphemy is an explosive allegation in the country, and even unfounded charges can spark popular fury and result in lynchings.

In both counts, Butt faces up to ten years in jail. On Sunday, he posted an apologetic video in which he stated that he was not opposed to blasphemy legislation.

“I apologize for the words I uttered during the perfume launch,” he stated in the video. “I apologise and announce the discontinuation of this perfume,” according to him.

Butt has already drawn parallels to his “mentor,” who produced a song called “295” in response to religious instigation.

Faisal Kamran, Lahore’s Deputy Inspector General of Police (Operation), stated that the Peca department was introduced because the matter involved social media remarks. He stated that Butt was now completing Umrah and would be detained upon returning to the nation.

He stated that the police will approach the Pakistan Ulema Council for its response to speaking out against the blasphemy legislation and inciting religious feelings.

“Religion is a sensitive topic, and one should exercise caution while discussing it. individuals do not utilize reasoning in religion, and everything is linked to feelings,” he said, adding that individuals should exercise caution while speaking and posting on social media since it may offend public sensibilities.

In previous legal difficulties, Butt pled guilty in January to possessing an illegal wild animal after receiving a lion cub as a wedding present.

He escaped jail time by promising a judge to publish animal rights films for a year.