LAHORE: A sessions court on Thursday confirmed the pre-arrest bail of actor Saba Qamar and singer Bilal Saeed in a case of alleged desecration of Wazir Khan mosque.

Ms Qamar and Mr Saeed appeared before the court along with their legal team.

Judge Chaudhry Qasim Ali asked the investigating officer (IO) if he had completed the investigation in the case.

The IO, however, said the complainant had not provided him the alleged objectionable videos shot in the mosque.

The judge expressed his displeasure over the officer’s performance and reminded him that he could have downloaded the videos from social media.

The judge confirmed the bails of the duo and observed that the prosecution and the defence would now establish their case in the trial.

Akbari Gate police had registered a first information report (FIR) against the duo under section 295 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC), following a court direction to act on an application of a lawyer as per law and decide whether a cognizable offence was made out.

The section deals with the offence of injuring or defiling a place of worship, with intent to insult the religion of any class.

Advocate Farhat Manzoor Chandio, the complainant, pleaded that the culprits trampled upon the sanctity of the mosque by their act which also sparked public outrage.

On the other side, the defence counsel argued that the FIR was baseless and contrary to the facts.

He said no dance or music was performed in the mosque as alleged in the FIR. He said the petitioners were innocent and falsely implicated in the case for ulterior motives.

Published in Dawn, September 4th, 2020