KARACHI: A judicial magistrate on Friday issued a non-bailable warrant for the arrest of social media influencer Sahil Adeem in a defamation case.

Judicial Magistrate (South) Sher Muhammad issued the warrant after investigating officer of the case Waqar Ahmed submitted a final charge sheet against Adeem.

The suspect has been booked for offences under Sections 153 (promoting enmity between different groups), 505(1)(c) (intent to incite) and 500 (punishment for defamation) of the Pakistan Penal Code read with Section 512 (record of evidence in absence of accused) of the criminal procedure code.

The magistrate directed the IO to arrest and produce the suspect in court on Sept 24.

According to state prosecutor Abdul Rehman Thaheem, a case was registered on July 12 on the complaint of Advocate Abdul Fatah against Adeem for “hurting the sentiments of the Sindhi community” at the City Court police station.

It said that Adeem in one of his videos passed controversial remarks against Sindhis and ridiculed them.

The complainant stated in the FIR that Adeem had attempted to “incite a conflict between Sindhis and Punjabis”.

On the other hand, Mr Adeem had secured protective bail on July 15 from the Islamabad High Court (IHC) for 15 days against a surety bond of Rs20,000.

Although the IHC had directed him to approach the court of competent jurisdiction in Karachi, Mr Adeem did not join the investigation or surrender before the court concerned, the IO informed the magistrate in the charge sheet.

It may be noted that PPP lawmaker Marvi Faseeh had moved a resolution in the Sindh Assembly secretariat against Mr Adeem over his alleged derogatory remarks against women during a TV show, Mukalma.

Published in Dawn, September 21st, 2024