A district court in Lahore on Friday quashed the arrest warrants for actor Saba Qamar and singer Bilal Saeed in a case for allegedly desecrating the Wazir Khan mosque.
Judicial Magistrate Jowaria Munir Bhatti issued Warrants were issued on Wednesday, while both were granted bail of Rs 30,000 each after they did not appear for the court hearing.
Both submitted an application through their law firm, stating that they were innocent and law-abiding citizens.
Saeed said he had not received the court summons till date, while Qamar said he had received the court summons for the next day on September 7 at 10 pm.
“Both the accused persons appeared before the court and requested to withdraw the bailable warrant of arrest issued by this court. […] In the interest of justice, it is hereby accepted,” stated the order of the court, a copy of which is available don.com.
The two were also ordered to appear in the next hearing to be held on October 6 and to deposit a personal surety bond of Rs 30,000 each.
both became The center of criticism last year After it emerged in August that he had shot footage inside the historic mosque while working on a video for a song.
A sessions court had directed the Akbari Gate station in-charge that proceed according to the law On an application seeking registration of a case against two and others for shooting the video.
Following this, the Akbari Gate police had registered an FIR against the duo under section 295 of the Pakistan Penal Code. This section deals with the offense of causing hurt or desecration of a place of worship with intent to insult the religion of any class.
there were two granted interim anticipatory bail On August 15, 2020, till August 25, with a further extension given in September 2020.
According to his lawyer, FIR was baseless And contrary to the facts. He said that no dance or music was performed in the mosque allegedly in the FIR and both were innocent and were falsely implicated in the case.
Qamar and Saeed also did apologized for the incident and issued a clarification that sheds more light on the context of the video shoot.