Court rejects Meesha Shafi plea in harassment case against Ali Zafar

A local judicial magistrate dismissed application of singer Meesha Shafi and actress Maham Javed and directed them to appear on November 8 in a criminal case registered under cybercrime law by actor-cum-singer Ali Zafar.

The magistrate held these woman suspects did not appear before the court even on a single date of hearing and these applications were not maintainable in their absence.

The other suspects including Syed Faizan Raza, Haseemuz Zaman, Ali Gul Pir, Iffat Omar, and Leena Ghani attended the hearing of the cybercrime case against them.

Complainant Ali Zafar Wednesday personally appeared before the court and requested an expeditious decision in his cybercrime case against singer Meesha Shafi and others allegedly for running a smear campaign against him on social media. He submitted that there was no likelihood that Mesha Shafi would ever appear before the court and requested to decide the case without a delay to make his life easy.

Ali Zafar had moved an application challenging the medical certificate previously submitted by comedian Ali Gul Pir, one of the suspects in the case, to get exemption from personal appearance. He said that he was traveling to Islamabad when his counsel informed him about the court’s direction and he reached within an hour.

The magistrate issued a notice on the application of the complainant challenging the medical certificate of the suspect

The magistrate sought arguments from the complainant’s counsel in acquittal applications filed by Leena Ghani and Ali Gul Pir.

The magistrate also allowed an application of Fareeha Ayub for one time exemption from personal appearance. The magistrate allowed an application of Ali Gul Pir and cancelled his arrest warrants subject to his regular appearance in the future.

Earlier, the FIA had lodged the FIR under section 20 of the Pakistan Electronic Crime Act and section 109 of Pakistan Penal Code against nine persons allegedly for running a smear campaign against Ali Zafar on social media. The FIA report stated that the investigation established that all the suspects including Meesha Shafi posted serious/direct allegations and defamatory /derogatory content on social media against the complainant.