Decide Ali Zafar's defamation suit against Meesha within 30 days, LHC orders trial court

The Lahore High Court (LHC) has directed the trial court to decide the defamation suit filed by singer Ali Zafar against artist Meesha Shafi within a period of 30 days.

LHC’s Justice Ahmad Nadeem Arshad announced the verdict on a petition filed by Shafi challenging a trial court order dated January 24, 2019, which directed her to refrain from issuing statements against Zafar across all media platforms, including social media.

The court upheld the trial court’s ruling, saying: “The impugned order is a well-reasoned order based on sound legal principles and does not warrant interference by this court.”

“This Court is mindful of the settled principle that discretionary orders passed by a competent court, particularly those relating to grant or refusal of interim injunction, should not be interfered with in constitutional jurisdiction unless the same are shown to be arbitrary, perverse or suffering from a jurisdictional defect,” read the judgment.

Zafar had filed the defamation suit in 2018 against Shafi, who had accused him of sexual harassment.

The suit, claiming damages of Rs1 billion, was filed under the Defamation Ordinance 2002. In the notice, the singer claimed Shafi damaged his reputation through false allegations of sexual harassment.

In April 2018, Shafi had taken to Twitter, now X, to publicly accuse Zafar of physically harassing her on "more than one occasion".