ISLAMABAD: An FIR was registered by the police on Saturday against Geo TV channel owner Mir Shakeelur Rehman, its morning programme host Shaista Lodhi, actress Veena Malik and her husband Asad Bashir Khattak.

Earlier, Additional District and Sessions Judge Jahangir Awan, while disposing of a petition by a citizen Arshad Butt, had directed the police to register the FIR against the four under blasphemy and terrorism charges for airing and participating in a controversial show on May 14. No arrest was made.

The case was registered under PPC’s sections 295-A [deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs], 295-C [use of derogatory remarks, etc., in respect of the Prophet (PBUH) ] and 298-A [use of derogatory remarks, etc., in respect of holy personages]. The suspects were also booked under Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act [punishment for terrorist act].

Published in Dawn, May 18th, 2014