After Rs190m notice, Nasir Madni delivers sermon style public apology to Momina Iqbal

Religious scholar Nasir Madni has publicly apologised to actor Momina Iqbal, weeks after making controversial remarks about her that sparked a legal battle.

Delivering the apology in a sermon-style address before an audience, Madni directly addressed the actress and her family while walking back his earlier comments.

"I would like to say to Momina Iqbal Sahiba that we also apologize to you and your family members," Madni said.

"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 public apology comes after Momina served Madni with a Rs190 million defamation notice, demanding damages, a public apology and the withdrawal of statements she described as defamatory.

Filed through Advocate Adnan Ahsan Khan, the notice cited remarks Madni allegedly made on June 14 and 15, accusing him of making statements that were "highly defamatory, scandalous, humiliating and derogatory."

In a video that circulated widely on social media, Madni had allegedly referred to the actress as "satanic" and "avaricious" while commenting on her harassment allegations against Punjab MPA Saqib Chadhar.

The legal notice argued that the remarks caused serious damage to Momina's reputation and subjected her to public humiliation and mental distress. It invoked the Defamation Ordinance 2002, the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA) 2016 and relevant sections of the Pakistan Penal Code.

Before taking legal action, Momina had responded publicly on Instagram, stating that making accusations without evidence that damage a person's honour is a grave sin in Islam. She also said she would not forgive the scholar for his remarks.

The controversy is linked to Momina's ongoing allegations against PML-N MPA Saqib Chadhar. The actress has accused him of prolonged online harassment, cyberbullying, criminal intimidation and orchestrating defamatory campaigns against her.

Meanwhile, a sessions court has extended the interim pre-arrest bail of Chadhar and his wife in the cybercrime case registered over the alleged harassment of the actress.