KARACHI: A blasphemy case was registered on Tues­day against singer-turned-preacher Junaid Jamshed on the directives of a district and sessions court for one of his televised sermons that is thought to contain blasphemous remarks about a wife of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).

SSP-City Sheeraz Nazeer said the case had been registered on a complaint of a leader of the Sunni Tehreek at the Risala police station under Sections 295-C (use of derogatory remarks in respect of the Holy Prophet) and 298-A (use of derogatory remarks etc in respect of Holy Personage) of the Pakistan Penal Code.

The SSP said that Mr Jamshed had not yet been arrested. He said that the matter would be investigated by a senior officer before taking any action.

ST leader Mobin Qadri moved an application in the court under Section 22-A of the criminal procedure code seeking registration of a blasphemy case against Mr Jamshed for allegedly making blasphemous remarks about the Holy Prophet and his wife Hazrat Ayesha (RA).

He said the programme had been aired by a private television channel and was also uploaded on various social media websites. He added that he had approached the police station concerned, but the officials refused to entertain his application for the registration of a case.

Disposing of the application, District and Sessions Judge (south) Ahmed Saba directed the Risala SHO on Tuesday to record the statement of the applicant under Section 154 of the CrPC and register a case accordingly if a cognisable offence was made out.

Meanwhile, Mr Jamshed released a video message on Tuesday in which he apologised for his remarks and asked for forgiveness.

Published in Dawn, December 3rd, 2014