Religious scholar Nasir Madni has publicly apologised to actress Momina Iqbal, walking back remarks he had made against her in a video that sparked a legal dispute.
“I would like to say to Momina Iqbal Sahiba that we also apologize to you and your family members,” Madni said in a recent speech.
“If any of my statements felt personally offensive to you, then all of us sitting here before you apologize. Yes, we publicly apologize and ask all my daughters to stand up for other daughters. We all are standing with Muntaha. Rimsha Iqbal is a big name in the field of law. We all must stand up for daughters. Daughters are daughters; it doesn’t matter to whom they belong,” he added.
The apology came after Momina sent a legal notice to Madni demanding Rs190 million in damages, a retraction of his statements and a public apology within a week.
The notice, filed through Advocate Adnan Ahsan Khan, cited remarks Madni made on June 14 and 15, describing them as “highly defamatory, scandalous, humiliating and derogatory.”
In a viral Meta video, Madni had allegedly called the actress “satanic” and “avaricious,” accusing her of accepting financial benefits before filing harassment allegations against Punjab MPA Saqib Chadhar.
The notice said the remarks caused severe damage to Momina’s reputation, mental agony and public character assassination, and cited the Defamation Ordinance 2002, the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act 2016 and the Pakistan Penal Code 1860.
Before filing the legal notice, Momina had responded to Madni on Instagram. “Accusations hurled at someone without evidence that damage a person’s honour are grave sins according to Islam,” she said, adding that she would not forgive him.
The controversy stems from Momina’s harassment allegations against PML-N MPA Chadhar, which she first raised publicly on May 20. She claimed she had faced online harassment, cyberbullying and death threats for an extended period and had repeatedly reported the matter to the National Cyber Crimes Investigation Agency and the Federal Investigation Agency without any action being taken.
Three days later, she filed a formal complaint with Lahore police, accusing Chadhar and his alleged accomplices of cyber harassment, criminal intimidation, blackmail, defamatory campaigns and interference in her marriage.
A sessions court on Wednesday extended the interim pre-arrest bail of Saqib Chadhar and his wife in the cybercrime case registered against him over the alleged harassment of Momina Iqbal.
