Meesha Shafi & 8 others booked over for defaming Ali Zafar

Ali Zafar and Meesha Shafi controversy that ignited about two years back has resurfaced, as the female singer along with eight others gets booked over by Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) over publicly defaming the Rockstar singer. The decision has been taken by FIA cyber crime wing under section 20 of Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA) that relates to ‘offenses against dignity of a natural person’ and R/W 109 (Punishment of abetment) of the Pakistan Penal code (PPC).

Hence, the First Information Report (FIR) has been lodged against the waar actress alongside actor-host Iffat Omar, Leena Ghani, Fariha Ayub, Maham Javaid, Ali Gul, Haseemuz Zaman Khan, Humna Raza and Syed Faizan Raza.

Backstory

The argument dates back to April 2018.  Meesha Shafi, a renowned model, actress and fellow singer to the critically acclaimed vocalist Ali Zafar, had allegedly accused him of sexual harassment, disparaging the actor few days prior to the premiere of his film, Teefa in Trouble. Taking it to her twitter account, the actress ostensibly indicted Ali Zafar of ‘physically harassing her on multiple occasions.’ “This happened to me despite the fact I am an empowered, accomplished woman who is known for speaking her mind. This happened to me as a mother of two children” – stated Meesha Shafi.

Meesha’s accusations earned her loads of sympathies from a vast population. However, in response, Zafar filed had filed a defamation suit against her. Since then, the two had been engaged in a legal combat.  

Details of the FIR filed against Meesha Shafi

“Prior permission from the special court is required by the investigation officer to arrest the suspect as it is a non-cognizable offence.” – Stated a senior official, supervising the matter.

The FIR against Meesha Shafi had been filed in April 2018 by immensely popular actor and singer Ali Zafar. Ali allegedly mentioned of some social media accounts, posting threats and defamatory material against him. Moreover, he also provided some twitter and Facebook accounts, supporting his claim.

Furthermore, in his complaint, Ali had stated that many fake accounts were created to initiate a slander campaign against his reputation. He also mentioned that the accounts surfaced few weeks before Meesha Shafi’s obnoxious indictments of physical misconduct against him, therefore alleging them to be linked to the critic.

“A twitter account @nehasaigol1, which posted 3,000 defamatory tweets against me and my family only in one year, (was) created 50 days before Meesha’s allegations of sexual harassment.” – Ali told FIA with documentary evidence.

The story continued with Meesha Shafi and aforementioned eights being summoned by the authorities, to state their fragments into the matter. Also, Meesha with her team of lawyers had appeared before the agency. Nevertheless, despite numerous hearings and timespan, the actress failed to provide any evidence in support of her allegations. Similarly, Iffat Omar, Leena Ghani and others were also called by the FIA, and asked to record their statement. Likewise, the backers of Meesha Shafi didn’t deliver any reasonable explanations, hence tossing the case at Ali Zafar’s direction. Thenceforth, a defamation suit filed by Ali had been pending with a session’s court.

However, on Monday 28^th September 2020, an FIR was lodged against the offenders. The agency had provided the accused with more than three opportunities to defend themselves, but they failed to do so and are accountable for action.

Read More: Esra Bilgic slams CCPO Lahore over victim-blaming comments

The First Information Report (FIR) reads,

“Some people are using Twitter Facebook and Instagram account uploading defamatory posts ad doing his (Zafar’s) character assassination on social media to damage his repute in society.”

“She [Ms Ghani] was found involved in publicly posting defamatory content against the complainant on Twitter on April 19, 2018. Fariha Ayub and Maham Javaid were also summoned four times but they did not turn up to join the inquiry. Iffat Omar appeared, but did not record her statement with the request to give her time, but despite repeated requests failed to record her statement.”

“Ali Gull, using his Twitter ID @Aligulpir, posted derogatory remarks against Zafar. He was summoned thrice, but he deliberately did not turn up and submitted his statement to the FIA Karachi. Gull’s statement was found unsatisfactory and did not fulfill the merit of inquiry.”

The FIR continues with labeling Humna Raza’s and Syed Faizan Raza’s to be unsatisfactory, whereas Haseemuz Zaman was summoned four times but did not join the investigation.

Meanwhile, the hearing of a defamation suit filed by singer Ali Zafar against fellow singer Meesha Shafi was adjourned on Monday due to unavailability of the presiding judge of a session’s court.

With Meesha and Ali controversy taking a new turn, social media users has stepped into the matter once again as #MeToo trends on Twitter in Pakistan.

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