Singer Meesha Shafi has won a revision petition filed in the Lahore High Court (LHC) challenging a stay order obtained by Ali Zafar against a defamation suit which Meesha had filed against him. The trial court had stopped the proceedings of a civil defamation case filed by Shafi in 2019 under the Defamation Ordinance 2002 for 'false and defamatory statements' made by Ali Zafar in the media and social media.
In its application for stay against Meesha's defamation case, Ali Zafar had argued that Meesha's suit should be stayed until a separate defamation case filed by him is decided upon. However, the Lahore High Court has overturned this order by accepting a civil revision challenge which has stated that the cause of action of the two suits is sufficiently different and the trial against Ali Zafar can proceed. Meesha Shafi’s legal team has been allowed to pursue the case against Ali Zafar.
Meesha Shafi had filed a case (dated 17-09-2019) pertaining to a 'defamatory smear campaign' by Ali Zafar. In the suit, Shafi contended that statements made by Ali Zafar on Hum News on 27-04-2019 falsely stated that she was a “liar” and that she made sexual harassment allegations to obtain fame and Canadian immigration. Shafi stated that she was already a well- established singer and actress at the time of the allegations and has been a Canadian resident since 2016, much before the allegations were levelled.