Lahore court issues arrest warrants against ‘Hindi Medium’ actress Saba Qamar, singer Bilal Saeed

Lahore, Sep 9 Arrest warrants have been issued in Lahore against actress Saba Qamar and singer Bilal Saeed in connection with a case pertaining to the shooting of a music video in the historic Wazir Khan mosque. According to a report in geo. tv, the warrants were issued by a judicial magistrate for their failure to appear before the court. The court adjourned the hearing till 6 October.

In August, The Akbari Gate police registered a case against Saba and Bilal on the complaint of lawyer Farhat Manzoor. The FIR was 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 was registered on a court order.

A short clip of Qamar and Saeed at the historic mosque went viral on social media. The video drew strong reactions from religious circles. According to the FIR, both actors had trampled upon the sanctity of the mosque by shooting a dance video, and this act also sparked an outrage among the people of Pakistan.

The Punjab government had also sacked two senior officers in connection with violation of the mosque’s sanctity.

Saba replied 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.

The actress has featured opposite late Bollywood actor Irrfan Khan in the 2017 film ‘Hindi Medium’ by Saket Chaudhary. Saeed is popularly known for his numbers such as ‘2 Number’, ‘Adhi adhi rate, ‘12 saal’ and ‘No make-up’.

Qamar, whose work in Bollywood movies received appreciation, had also done a biopic of social media sensation Qandeel Baloch. She received death threats on social media for her “un-Islamic” action. She was warned on social media that she might face the fate of Qandeel Baloch, who was killed by her brother in 2016 for ‘disgracing the family honour.’