ISLAMABAD: Police in Pakistan’s eastern city of Lahore have booked YouTube star Rajab Butt and others for allegedly attacking women at a cafe last week, a copy of the complaint said, with one of the suspects accused of opening fire during the confrontation.
The first information report (FIR) was registered by police on behalf of a woman named Ayesha Sharafat on Sunday, as per a copy of the complaint seen by Arab News. Sharafat said she visited a cafe in Lahore on July 25 with her friends for a meal when a group of two young men and two women harassed them.
Sharafat alleged that she and her friends were slapped by the group, adding that both men brandished pistols during the confrontation. She said one of the men, whose name the complainant identified as Mir Shafi, fired a shot as well.
“The cafe’s manager, Khurram, knows both the men and the women,” Sharafat said in the FIR. “This action against me was carried out at Rajab Butt’s behest.”
Sharafat did not provide further details of the incident but urged police to register a case against the suspects and provide her with protection. Lahore Police registered cases against Butt under sections 354 (assault or criminal force to woman), 506(B) (punishment for criminal intimidation) and section 337-H(2) (hurt by rash or negligent act).
Butt has so far not responded to the complaint.
Butt has one of the largest followings in Pakistan on YouTube, with over nine million subscribers. He has been embroiled in controversy over the years, including over his brief custody of a lion cub in January last year.
Butt had pleaded guilty to owning the undocumented wild animal, admitting that he accepted it as a wedding gift. He later avoided jail by promising a judge to post animal rights videos for a year.
In March 2025, Butt again made headlines when he was charged with blasphemy after launching a perfume. In a video that was deleted from his social media accounts later, Butt launched his “295” perfume which refers to blasphemy legislation in the Pakistan Penal Code.
He said it followed a case filed against him in 2024 over an earlier video that was deemed blasphemous.
His perfume publicity sparked ire, prompting the leader of the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) right wing party to file a complaint against the YouTuber. Butt later issued an apology, asserting he is not against Pakistan’s blasphemy laws.
