LAHORE: A sessions court extended on Thursday the interim pre-arrest bail of PML-N MPA Saqib Chadhar and his wife — both of whom have been facing legal proceedings for allegedly harassing television actress Momina Iqbal — till July 13.

Additional District and Sessions Judge Nusrat Ali Siddiqi presided over the hearing, during which Chadhar appeared before the court along with his counsel, Mian Ali Ashfaq.

However, Chadhar’s wife did not attend the hearing, citing health reasons.

Judge Siddiqi, concluding the hearing, extended Chadhar’s and his wife’s bail, directed them to join the investigation initiated against them and instructed the prosecution to submit a progress report of the probe at the next hearing on July 13.

Case origins

The case garnered attention after a social media appeal by Momina Iqbal went viral in May and drew the attention of senior PML-N leadership, especially Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz. In her online post, tagged to the PML-N leadership, Iqbal alleged that she had been subjected to “online harassment, cyberbullying, and death threats for a long time”.

She claimed that both she and her family had suffered severe mental stress and trauma because of the alleged conduct of the MPA, whose identity she did not disclose publicly at the time.

“A member of the provincial assembly belonging to the PML-N has been threatening me for an extended period. I repeatedly reported the matter to the NCCIA and the Federal Investigation Agency, but no action was taken,” she stated.

Instead of ensuring justice, attempts were allegedly made to suppress the complaints, Iqbal claimed. “Even individuals associated with the office of the chief minister tried to discourage me and silence the issue rather than allowing a fair investigation.”

Subsequently, the PML-N’s “top leadership directed the NCCIA to immediately entertain the actor’s complaint and initiate action against the ruling party MPA if the allegations are proven”, a source had told Dawn. The source added that the CM’s Office also wanted to clear its name following Iqbal’s allegations against it.

Following these developments, the NCCIA summoned Iqbal and Chadhar on May 21. The agency’s Punjab head Muhammad Ali Waseem said the two were summoned after the NCCIA received Iqbal’s complaint.

A day after they recorded their statements, Iqbal filed an application with Lahore’s Chung Police for the registration of a first information report against Chadhar.

In her application, she alleged that the PML-N MPA had been making threatening calls to harass her and her fiance. She claimed that the lawmaker turned abusive when she refused his marriage proposal, after it transpired that he was already married to two women.

Subsequently, Chadhar began blackmailing her, she alleged, also mentioning WhatsApp messages and video calls from the suspect in her application. She further alleged that the MPA also sent the same threatening messages to her sister’s mobile phone.

Meanwhile, Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz also warned in a post on X that any attempt to exert political pressure, abuse influence, or exploit a woman by threatening to release “personal content” in the case involving Iqbal and Chadhar would be met with “firm and uncompromising action.”

On June 4, the NCCIA registered a case against Chadhar on Iqbal’s complaint under Sections 3 (unauthorised access to information system or data), 4 (unauthorised copying or transmission of data), 21 (offences against modesty of a natural person and minor) and 24 (cyber stalking) of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act, read with Sections 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation), 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence, or giving false information to screen offender), 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) and 109 (punishment for abetment if the act abetted is committed in consequence and where no express provision is made for its punishment) of the Pakistan Penal Code.

A day later, Chadhar secured pre-arrest interim bail, which was earlier extended on June 25.