Ali Zafar vs Meesha Shafi: An Explainer

A Lahore sessions court on Saturday recorded the statement of a witness in Ali Zafar’s defamation case against Meesha Shafi, wherein it was informed that Shafi’s “harassment claims were false”.

As per the details, the court rejected Shafi’s appeal for not to record the witnesses’ statements as her request was pending in the Supreme Court (SC). She asked the court to stop the process until the verdict of the top court was issued.

However, the judge said the hearing would continue and recorded the statement of one witness, Kanza Muneer.

In her statement, Muneer told the court that during the rehearsal, at which 11 people were present and videos were made, Zafar and Shafi maintained five to six feet distance from each other. She said that Shafi left after saying bye and claimed that her allegations of harassment were false.

The court then adjourned the hearing with the order that other witnesses will record their statements on May 18.

Ali Zafar has filed a defamation case against Meesha Shafi and demanded a public apology as well as Rs2 billion in damages for accusing him of sexual harassment.

In April 2018, Shafi had taken to Twitter to accuse Zafar of physically harassing her on “more than one occasions”, as part of the #MeToo movement.