The Lahore Sessions Court rejected a petition filed by singer Mesha Shafi seeking stay of proceedings on the defamation suit filed by singer and actor Ali Zafar and directed him to produce other witnesses to record his statements.
Mesha Shafi had on October 10 filed a petition in the Lahore Sessions Court seeking stay or adjournment of the contempt proceedings against him for the time being.
The singer had told the court in a petition filed through her lawyers that a criminal case of cyber crime had been filed against her and her witnesses in the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), which frightened her witnesses. The defamation hearing should be adjourned for the time being.
The court had sought reply from Ali Zafar by October 13 after a brief hearing on Mesha Shafi’s application.
Ali Zafar had told the court in his reply that a cyber crime case was filed against the witnesses of Mesha Shafi who were campaigning against him on social media and the hearing of the defamation case was adjourned using this case as an excuse.
* File photo: Facebook
During the hearing, Additional District and Sessions Judge Yasir Hayat remarked that the high courts had repeatedly referred to the established law that there was no objection to the simultaneous proceedings in civil and criminal cases on the same issue.
Rejecting the plea filed by Mesha Shafi’s lawyer, Judge Yasir Hayat remarked that British and Indian case laws do not bind the court, especially when the law set by the Supreme Court already exists.
Judge Yasir Hayat noted that Mesha Shafi failed to offer anything in support of his position on stopping the contempt proceedings simply because a criminal proceeding had begun.
The Additional District and Sessions Judge ruled that it was clear that the outcome of the criminal proceedings was a different matter as it was aimed at punishing the perpetrators and the civil proceedings were aimed at enforcing human rights.
The court also rejected another petition filed by Mesha Shafi’s lawyer seeking adjournment of the trial for 25 to 30 days.
Additional District and Sessions Judge Yasir Hayat directed Mesha Shafi’s lawyer to present his remaining witnesses on October 27.
Mesha Shafi had accused Ali Zafar of sexual harassment in his tweets in April 2018, which Ali Zafar called false.
Later, Mesha Shafi had also filed a sexual harassment petition against Ali Zafar with the Punjab Ombudsman and the Governor of Punjab and both the petitions of the singer were rejected.
* File photo: Instagram
After the rejection of the aforesaid petitions, Ali Zafar had filed a suit against Mesha Shafi in the Sessions Court, Lahore, seeking Rs 1 billion in damages, which has been the subject of dozens of hearings in the last two years.
Ali Zafar and all his 13 witnesses have recorded their statements in the case, while Mesha Shafi’s lawyers have also completed cross-examination.
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In the same case, Mesha Shafi and his mother have also recorded their statements. However, the statements of Mesha Shafi’s witnesses have yet to be recorded and cross-examined.
The court will give its verdict on the petition only after the statements of Mesha Shafi’s witnesses and cross-examination. However, it is believed that this process may take another three to four months.
On the other hand, in late September, on Ali Zafar’s complaint, the FIA had filed a case against nine persons, including Mesha Shafi and actress Effat Omar, under cyber crime.
* File photo: Instagram
All the personalities are accused of damaging Ali Zafar’s reputation by making allegations against him on social media as planned and the same cyber crime is yet to be decided.
In addition, since April 2018, at least 3 women have apologized to Ali Zafar for making false allegations.
Among the women who apologized to Ali Zafar were well-known blogger and journalist Mahesh Ijaz, blogger Hamna Raza and a woman named Sufi.
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The three women had also accused Ali Zafar of harassment in their tweets after Mesha Shafi, but all three later admitted that they made false allegations and apologized to the actor.