Lahore: A Lahore sessions court on Monday acquitted actor Saba Qamar and singer Bilal Saeed in a case concerning the alleged desecration of Wazir Khan mosque, ruling that the charges against them were “groundless”.
Additional Sessions Judge Malik Muhammad Mushtaq set aside the order passed by a judicial magistrate on March 2, stating that it was “not sustainable in the eyes of the law” and accepted Qamar and Saeed’s acquittal pleas.
In March, a judicial magistrate had dismissed their acquittal applications in the same case after which they had filed an appeal in the sessions court.
In an eight-page detailed verdict released today Judge Mushtaq said the investigating officer did not find any evidence to suggest that the two intentionally damaged, defiled or disrespected the place of worship.
“Rather, they being artists, joined the shooting with prior permission from the Auqaf department and religious affair[s] department, government of Punjab, Lahore,” the verdict said.
The judge added that the requisite fee was deposited before the recording took place at the mosque while the entire shoot occurred under the supervision of the department concerned and according to the terms and conditions of the license obtained from the Auqaf department.
“During the investigation of the case, no music player was taken into possession,” the judge observed, adding that all the witnesses were not present at the alleged place of occurrence and had seen the clip on social media.
