She has sued singer Ali Zafar
The Supreme Court approved for hearing on Monday singer Meesha Shafi’s workplace harassment case against fellow entertainer Ali Zafar.
The court has granted leave in Shafi’s appeal. This means the court is ready to debate whether Zafar’s alleged sexual harassment of Shafi counted as workplace harassment.
Earlier, the Lahore High Court and Punjab ombudsperson had rejected Shafi’s appeals on the grounds that the alleged harassment was not covered by the workplace harassment law.
The court has issued notices to Zafar and the Punjab government. The judges ruled that the points raised in the case must be examined by the court.
The suo motu notice taken to define sexual harassment has been clubbed with the case. The hearing has been adjourned indefinitely.
In April 2018, Shafi took to Twitter to accuse Zafar of physically harassing her on ‘more than one occasion.’ “This happened to me despite the fact that I am an empowered, accomplished woman who is known for speaking her mind,” she said. In response, Zafar filed a defamation suit against Shafi.
He denied the allegations and wants her to pay restitution for the damage to his reputation and leveling false allegations against him.
Since then the two have been engaged in a legal battle.
Most recently, the FIA accused a group of eight people, including Shafi, of being responsible for running a defamatory social media campaign against Zafar.
In 2019, the Lahore High Court dismissed the harassment appeal Shafi filed against Zafar on a technicality. It ruled that the case was not of workplace harassment as they did not have “an employer-employee relationship”.
Before that the provincial ombudsperson had also rejected it on the same grounds.
This does not, however, mean that the court ruled out the harassment. It just noted that it was not covered by the workplace harassment law.