Supreme Court grants leave in Meesha Shafi’s workplace harassment case

Pakistani singer Meesha Shafi’s workplace harassment case against Ali Zafar was approved for hearing on Monday by the Supreme Court.

The singer was granted leave by the court in her appeal against Zafar, meaning the court will be deliberating if Shafi’s accusations of sexual harassment should come under the workplace harassment law.

The Reluctant Fundamentalist actor’s appeal was earlier rejected by the Lahore High Court and Punjab ombudsperson, claiming that her allegations did not come under the workplace harassment law.

The Punjab government as well as Zafar were issued notices by the court, as the judges ruled that there should be proper hearing of the points raised in the case. 

Earlier in 2019, Shafi’s appeal was dismissed by the Lahore High Court on the basis that she and her alleged harasser did not have “an employer-employee” relationship. 

Back in April 2018, Shafi turned to her social media and publicly accused Zafar of sexually harassing her on more than one occasion. Zafar denied the allegations and filed a defamation suit against Shafi.