Daily Times

LAHORE: A sessions court in Lahore on Monday asked singer-cum-actor, Meesha Shafi, to respond by July 5 to a Rs1 billion defamation case that was filed, earlier, against her by singer/actor, Ali Zafar.

During the hearing, headed by Additional Sessions Judge Shehzad Ahmed, Ali’s counsel, Rana Intezar Hussain, argued his point of view that Meesha had “levelled false and baseless allegations of harassment” against his client.

Hussain told the additional sessions judge, “Meesha did not apologise, despite being sent a legal notice.”

Addressing the court to direct the singer-cum-actor to pay Rs1 billion in defamation charges, Hussain said, “She leveled allegations against my client for cheap publicity.”

Earlier, on Saturday, Ali Zafar filed a lawsuit against Meesha Shafi, claiming that she defamed him in her tweet, in which she accused the singer of sexually harassing her on more than on multiple occasions.

The suit, claiming damages of up to Rs1 billion, was filed under the Defamation Ordinance 2002, in the Lahore High Court.

The singer-turned-actor wrote in his statement: “The tweet dated 19.04.2018 and the Instep Article dated 21.04.2018 are false, slanderous, and defamatory statements, stand published and originate from the defendant, therefore, have caused tremendous injury to the Plaintiff’s reputation, good will, livelihood; being attempts to tarnish the good image of the plaintiff. As the defamatory statements are patently false, it can only be concluded that this malicious campaign has been launched against the plaintiff as part of a motivated conspiracy to tarnish the plaintiff’s good image through making false accusations. The defendant has associated herself with the global #MeToo movement, with one of the launchers of the #MeToo movement ‘Rose McGowan’ labeling the defendant as ‘a heroine for our times’.”

The notice, while further breaking down the Rs 1bn fine, stated, “Be that as it may, that due to the defamatory campaign being spearheaded by the defendant, the plaintiff besides special damages in case of defamation further suffered the following damages:

Mental torture 2 crores

Loss of contacts 8 crores

Loss of reputation/ goodwill 50 crores

Loss of business opportunities 40 crores”

In April, Meesha had accused the fellow singer of sexual harassment on “more than one occasion”, in a tweet.

Her statement read, “This happened to me despite the fact I am an empowered, accomplished woman who is known for speaking her mind!”

Previously, Zafar’s council had sent a legal notice to Meesha, asking her to delete the tweet, and issue an apology on Twitter, failing which he will file a Rs1 billion defamation case against her.