Kuala Lumpur, Aug.24 (ANI): A woman who was to be caned here today for drinking beer in a bar, has been spared by religious authorities.

"The warrant cannot be executed," Sharafuddin Zainal Ariffin, the head of enforcement for the state of Pahang's Islamic Affairs Department.

Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno, 32, would have been the first woman to be caned in Malaysia.

According to the Courier Mail, the Muslim model said she would now plan a pilgrimage to Mecca, and seeking solace in prayer.

She was earlier sentenced to receive six strokes of the cane after pleading guilty to drinking alcohol at a hotel nightclub last year.

Kartika cried when the verdict was handed down last month but in an interview at her home in a small Malay village, she was composed about her fate.

"Sometimes I feel sad and stressed as I have tarnished my family's name. But now after spending time reading the Koran, I feel calm and am not afraid of being caned," she said.

The part-time model and mother of two, who lives in neighbouring Singapore, had called for her punishment to be carried out in public. (ANI)