LAHORE: A district court on Wednesday issued bailable arrest warrants singer Bilal Saeed and actress Saba Qamar in a case of alleged violating sanctity of Wazir Khan mosque.
Judicial judge Jaweria Muneer Bhatti heard the case and issued the warrants, while setting the bail at Rs30,000 each. The next case hearing was set for October 6.
The case was filed last year, after which an FIR was filed against in a Lahore court. The warrants were issued after both failed to make an appearance at the hearing.
In August last year, a case had been registered at the Akbari police station of Lahore on the complaint of advocate Farhat Manzoor after the release of the song Qabool Hai.
A sessions court had directed the Akbari Gate police station house officer to proceed in accordance with the law on an application seeking registration of a case against the two and others for shooting the video.
Subsequently, the Akbari Gate police had registered a first information report (FIR) against the duo under Section 295 of the Pakistan Penal Code. The section deals with the offence of injuring or defiling a place of worship, with the intent to insult the religion of any class.
In the report, the act of filming a music video at the mosque has hurt the religious sentiments of the public. It called for stern action against the mosque administration.
The two were granted interim pre-arrest bail on August 15, 2020, until Aug 25, with a further extension given in September 2020. Since the song was released, both Saeed and Qamar have received flak on social media. Bilal Saeed has subsequently apologised to the public.
