Saba Qamar, Bilal Saeed granted interim bail in mosque video case

LAHORE: A sessions court on Saturday granted interim bail to actress Saba Qamar and singer Bilal Saeed in a case relating to shooting a music video in a mosque.

The court heard an application filed by the celebrities seeking interim bail for a case registered against them. The court asked them to submit surety bonds of Rs25,000 each and adjourned proceedings until 25th August.

Earlier on Friday, a case had been registered against Saba Qamar and Bilal Saeed for the controversial shooting of their latest song ‘Qubool’ at the Wazir Khan mosque.

The Akbari Gate police have registered the case on the complaint of lawyer Farhat Manzoor. The FIR has been registered under Section 295 (deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) of the Pakistan Penal Code.

The case also appealed for stern action against the mosque administration. Manzoor had filed a petition earlier this month to file a case against the artists in this regard. 

A short clip of Qamar whirling with Saeed at the historic mosque went viral on social media, drawing strong reactions from religious and political circles.

Saba Qamar also responded to the criticism in a series of tweets, saying the clip was a “prologue to the music video featuring a Nikkah scene. It was neither shot with any sort of playback music nor has it been edited to the music track,” she said on Twitter.

Bilal Saeed has subsequently apologised to the public in a video posted on social media. “We realise what has happened over the past few days has hurt your sentiments deeply,” he wrote as a caption. 

“We as Muslims, as decent human beings and as artists will never, ever trivialise or condone disrespect to Islam or any other religion, race, caste, colour or creed. If we have unknowingly hurt anyone’s sentiments we apologise to you all with all our heart.”