LHC conditionally suspends Rs5m damages order against Meesha Shafi in defamation case

Court directs singer to deposit Rs2.5m in cash with the court, while furnishing surety bonds for the remaining Rs2.5m

LAHORE:

The Lahore High Court on Monday conditionally suspended a trial court order directing Meesha Shafi to pay Rs5 million in damages to Ali Zafar in a defamation case, requiring her to deposit half the amount in cash and submit a surety bond for the remaining sum.

A two-member bench headed by Justice Ahmed Nadeem Arshad heard Shafi’s appeal against the sessions court verdict and temporarily halted the payment of damages. However, the suspension was made conditional on Shafi depositing Rs2.5 million in cash with the court and furnishing surety for the remaining Rs2.5 million.

Lahore's sessions court on March 31 ruled in favour of Zafar, ordering Meesha to pay Rs5 million in damages. Zafar had filed a defamation claim of Rs1 billion against Meesha after she accused him of sexual harassment, with the case having spanned over eight years.

Meesha, through her counsel on April 29, filed an appeal in the LHC against the session court’s verdict, arguing that the trial court erred in its judgment.

During the proceedings, Meesha's counsel argued that the session court had wrongly upheld Ali 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.

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.

Read More: Meesha Shafi challenges Rs5m defamation ruling against Ali Zafar in LHC appeal

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.

The high court subsequently issued a notice to Ali Zafar, seeking his response to the appeal, and adjourned further proceedings.

In 2018, Zafar filed the defamation suit through his counsel Rana Intizar, demanding Rs1 billion in damages. Intizar contended that Meesha had damaged the reputation of his client with “baseless allegations”. He pleaded that the court direct Meesha to tender an unconditional apology and pay Rs1 billion in damages.

Zafar had previously sent a legal notice to Meesha stating that her tweets, dated April 19, 2018, were “false, slanderous, and defamatory” and “caused tremendous injury to the plaintiff’s reputation, goodwill, and livelihood.”

The trial court had originally imposed a gag order on January 24, 2019, following Zafar’s defamation suit. Meesha’s subsequent appeal to the LHC had been dismissed.

In 2021, the Supreme Court accepted Meesha’s petition filed against the LHC order for the preliminary hearing. After hearing the arguments, the apex court remarked that the points raised by the petitioner must be reviewed, and clubbed the case with the suo motu notice taken to define sexual harassment, also pending in the court.