Meesha Shafi files 'no confidence' petition against judge hearing Ali Zafar's case

Singer claims judge is being partial and a clear and obvious bias towards Zafar

KARACHI: Meesha Shafi on Saturday filed a petition against the judge hearing Ali Zafar's defamation case.

According to Express News, Shafi expressed lack of confidence on the judge heading Zafar's claim. The Aaya Lariye singer has filed a petition to the session court through her advocate Farhad Ali Shah.

"The judge has shown a clear and obvious bias in favour of the plaintiff which is apparent from the mode and manner in which he has so far conducted the proceedings," the petition read. "The defendant does not have any confidence that the learned judge will be able to impartially and fairly proceeding in the case and hence desires to transfer her above-mentioned case to any other court of competent jurisdiction."

The petition noted that the judge had "advised the witnesses not to give long answers as he may contradict himself or he may prejudice his own stance".

Shafi requested a prompt order for transferring the defamation claim to some other judge, granted by a Lahore session judge.

It is pertinent to mention that the additional session judge Shakeel Ahmed is hearing Zafar's defamation claim for past six months.

Backstory

“Meesha’s claims are the statement of truth, therefore it was her right under the law to file a complaint against Ali Zafar,” Shafi’s lawyer Ahmed Pansota had said while responding to Ali Zafar's defamation case last year. “We have made it clear with our previous response that our client was harassed by Ali. So we’re sure to prove the same with evidences.”

He added that they have attached testimonies of several women accusing Zafar of sexual misconduct with their reply and the previous dismissal order by the ombudsman.

Shafi accused the Channo singer of harassing her on several occasions. Responding to which, Zafar filed a billion dollar defamation suit, terming Shafi's allegations false.

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