ISLAMABAD: A sessions court in Pakistan on Tuesday directed singer Meesha Shafi to pay Rs5 million [$17,923] to singer-cum-actor Ali Zafar in a defamation case, observing that she had made “false, defamatory and injurious” allegations of sexual harassment against him years earlier.
Shafi accused Zafar of subjecting her to “sexual harassment of a physical nature” on multiple occasions in a social media post in April 2018. Zafar has repeatedly denied the allegations and filed a Rs1 billion [$3.58 million] defamation suit against her in 2018, stating that Shafi’s claims had tarnished his image in public.
In a copy of the court’s order seen by Arab News, Justice Asif Hayat stated that Shafi’s social media post and her interview in Instep Today magazine published on Apr. 21, 2018, contained “false, defamatory and injurious imputations against the plaintiff.”
It noted that Shafi levelled allegations of sexual harassment constitute actionable defamation as she was unable to prove the allegations true or that they were made for “public good.”
“The plaintiff is held entitled to compensatory damages on account of injury to reputation, dignity and mental anguish,” the order reads.
