The Lahore High Court suspended conditionally an order by a trial court which directed singer Meesha Shafi to pay Rs5 million in damages to singer Ali Zafar in a defamation case. The court has asked Shafi to deposit half the amount in cash and submit a surety bond for the remaining amount.
A two-member bench headed by Justice Ahmed Nadeem Arshad heard the case on Monday. Shafi had filed an appeal in the court against the against the sessions court verdict and temporarily halted the payment of damages.
On March 31, a sessions court had fined Shafi in a defamation case filed by Zafar. The verdict was in the defamation case despite their being any ruling in the harassment case which Shafi has filed against Zafar. Shafi has challenged the verdict in the Lahore High Court on April 29.
During the proceedings, Shafi’s counsel argued that the session court had wrongly upheld Zafar’s claim and awarded damages. He submitted that Shafi had also filed a harassment complaint before the provincial ombudsperson, and an appeal against that decision is currently pending before the Supreme Court, reported The Express Tribune. Therefore, he contended, the civil claim should not have been decreed until a final ruling by the apex court. The bench, however, declined the request to suspend the entire trial court judgment.
Justice Arshad observed that the trial court had specifically restrained Meesha from reiterating allegations of sexual harassment against Ali Zafar, and this portion of the order could not be suspended. The court remarked that it could not permit anyone to level such allegations under the circumstances. When Meesha’s counsel stated that his client was not engaging in public statements, the court responded that compliance with the restriction should therefore not pose any difficulty.
