Meesha Shafi appoints legal team for sexual harassment claim against Ali Zafar
April 24, 2018
Singer-cum-actor Meesha Shafi has appointed Muhammad Ahmad Pansota and Nighat Dad as legal counsels to oversee issues pertaining to her sexual harassment claim against Ali Zafar.
“I have appointed Barrister @pansota1 and @nighatdad as my legal counsels to look after all issues pertaining to my sexual harassment claim against Ali Zafar. Media is requested to contact them to get any update on the ongoing issue,” she tweeted on Tuesday.
Dad is a lawyer and Internet and women’s rights activist who runs the not-for-profit organisation Digital Rights Foundation. Her work in the field of IT security has earned her many international awards.
Barrister Pansota is an advocate based in Lahore.
The announcement comes after Ali sent a legal notice to Meesha seeking an apology, which, if not provided, will result in "damages to the tune of at least Rs100 crore" under Defamation Ordinance, Geo News reported.
According to the letter available with Geo News, Ali maintains that Meesha levelled false accusations of sexual harassment against him.
A defamation suit will be filed against Shafi should she fail to delete the tweet dated 19.04.2018 and issue an apology on Twitter within two weeks of the notice being served.
Last week, Meesha posted on Twitter, accusing Ali of physically harassing her on "more than one occasion".
"This happened to me despite the fact I am an empowered, accomplished woman who is known for speaking her mind!" read the statement.
Ali denied the accusations, threatening legal action against the actress.
"I intend to take this through the courts of law, and to address this professionally and seriously rather than to lodge any accusations here," he wrote on Twitter.
NOTE: On Wednesday (April 25) Shafi's lawyer confirmed having received a legal notice from Zafar's legal team. The story above was based on a draft of the legal notice shared by Zafar's legal team. The final legal notice demands Rs 100 crores instead of Rs 100 million as had been reported on Monday (April 23).
