LAHORE: A sessions court on Tuesday extended interim pre-arrest bail of actor Saba Qamar and singer Bilal Saeed in a case of video recording at the Wazir Khan Mosque.

The petitioners did not appear before the court, citing security reasons.

The lawyers filed applications on behalf of Ms Qamar and Mr Saeed, seeking exemption from personal appearance before the court. They said the petitioners were facing death threats and were unable to come to the court.

The counsel for the complainant urged the court to dismiss the applications as personal appearance of a suspect was necessary to avail pre-arrest bail.

The court, however, extended the bail till Sept 3 and directed the petitioners to appear at the next hearing.

The Akbari Gate police had registered a first information report against the artistes under Section 295 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) following a court’s direction to act on an application of a lawyer as per law.

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

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

Published in Dawn, August 26th, 2020