A Lahore court issued bailable arrest warrants against ‘Hindi Medium’ fame Saba Qamar and singer Bilal Saeed in a case of the alleged desecration of the historic Wazir Khan mosque. The bail amount has been set at Rs 30,000 each when the two did not appear for a court hearing, Dawn reported.
The next hearing on the case is scheduled for October 6, 2021
The controversy erupted when Qamar and Saeed, two well-known Pakistani artists, allegedly shot a video inside the holy ‘Wazir Khan mosque’ while working on the video of their popular song ‘Qubool Hai.’
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Following this, an application seeking registration of a legal case against the two and others for shooting the video was filed after which, the session court has directed the concerned police authorities to take necessary action in accordance with the law.
Subsequently, a first information report (FIR) was filed against the duo under Section 295 of the Pakistan Penal Code by the Akbari Gate police. The aforementioned IPC section deals with the offence of injuring or defiling a place of worship, with the intent to insult the religion of any class.
Qamar and Saeed were granted interim pre-arrest bail on August 15, 2020, which was valid till August 25 with a further extension given in September 2020.
As per ‘Qubool Hai’ stars’ defence counsel, the FIR was baseless and contrary to the facts. He said that no dance or music was performed in the mosque as alleged in the complaint and the two were innocent and falsely implicated in the case for ulterior motives.
Both Qamar and Saeed had earlier apologised for the incident and issued explanations that shed further light on the video shoot and Wazir Khan Mosque’s role.
Sama Qamar, best-known for her role in Irrfan Khan starrer ‘Hindi Medium’ is a popular Pakistani actor and television presenter. She is one of the most popular and highest-paid celebrities in the Urdu entertainment industry.
Bilal Saeed is a Pakistani singer-songwriter and music composer. The musician sang several songs for Bollywood including Katrina Kaif starring ‘Khair Mangdi.’
