An advocate moved court on Saturday seeking the registration of a sedition case against Congress president Rahul Gandhi for referring to the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) chief as "Masood Azhar ji", saying it has "insulted" the country.

"I have moved the court of chief judicial magistrate to register a case against Congress president Rahul Gandhi for his statement, where he had suffixed 'ji' to Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar's name," Verma said.

"This act has insulted the country and amounts to ridiculing the martyrdom of soldiers on the country's borders," he told reporters.

"Gandhi has so far not expressed any regret over his remarks. He has deliberately committed a heinous crime, which comes in the category of sedition," the petitioner said.

Hitting out at the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on the issue of national security, the Congress chief told party workers in Delhi on Monday that 40 CRPF personnel were killed in the February 14 Pulwama terror attack carried out by the JeM, whose chief Masood Azhar was released from jail by the saffron party.

"These people with 56-inch chests, you would recall, in their previous government, the current National Security Advisor, Ajit Doval, went in an aircraft with Masood Azharji and handed over Masood Azhar in Kandahar," he said sarcastically.

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