A sessions court in Lahore has acquitted actress Saba Qamar and Bilal Saeed in the case of dancing and shooting a video at Masjid Wazir Khan, with the court saying the charges hold no ground, Aaj News reported on Monday.

Additional Sessions Judge Malik Muhammad Mushtaq of the Lahore Sessions Court has issued a written verdict on the appeals of actress Saba Qamar and Bilal Saeed for violating the sanctity of Wazir Khan Mosque.

The verdict said that under section 295, there should be an intention to desecrate a religious place but according to the accused, they had no intention to desecrate a mosque, nor any evidence was found indicating such an intent upon investigation.

The allegations against the accused were ruled baseless and the need for a trial has been rejected. The court accepted the appeals of the accused and ordered their acquittal.

Earlier Qamar and Saeed had filed an appeal against the decision of the judicial magistrate, in which it was stated that the recording took place at Wazir Khan Mosque with the permission of the administration including Punjab government’s Auqaf and religious affairs departments.

The sanctity of the mosque was taken care of and no dance was performed inside the mosque, they said in the petition filed against the decision.

A video came to light in August 2020 that showed actress Saba Qamar and Bilal Saeed in a video of a song shot at the historic Wazir Khan mosque.

Subsequently, a case was registered against them by the Akbari Gate police for undermining the sanctity of a place of worship with an intent to offend a religion.

In October 2021, both of them were summoned to the case. However, they filed a petition of not guilty and contested the trial.

This year in March, a judicial magistrate had dismissed their acquittal pleas after which they had filed an appeal in the sessions court.

During the court hearing, Qamar and Saeed had also issued explanations on the context of the video shoot after apologising for the incident.