Ali Zafar defamation case: Iffat Omar asks court for security
Actor Iffat Omar has requested a Lahore session court to provide her security after she was harassed by supporters of Ali Zafar at the last hearing in a defamation case against the singer.
On Monday, Omar told the court that in the previous hearing of the case on January 19, supporters of Zafar has followed her outside the courtroom, mocked her, and chanted slogans against singer Meesha Shafi.
The judge took notice of the incident and told the actor to take the complaint to the relevant forum.
“If the harassment took place inside the courtroom, we will take action against it according to law,” he said. “But if it happened outside the room, then the matter has to be taken to another sessions court.”
The court instructed Omar to file a petition in the sessions court. The hearing has been adjourned till February 10.
The Federal Investigation Agency last year registered the case on the complaint of Zafar. He had accused Meesha Shafi, Leena Ghani, Iffat Omer, Fariha Ayub, Faizan Raza, Haseemuz Zaman, Ali Gul Pir, and Maham Javed of running a coordinated vilification campaign against him on social media.
Ali Zafar defamation case
On December 16 last year, FIA filed a challan against eight people, including Shafi and Omar, for running a defamatory social media campaign against Zafar.
The agency said these people were unable to provide witnesses to prove Shafi’s sexual harassment claims.
Zafar filed a case against Shafi and seven other people at the FIA’s cybercrime wing for running a vilification campaign against him on social media. He provided Twitter account handles and screenshots as evidence of the campaign. The challan accused them of making sexual harassment complaints against Zafar on social media.
The eight people named in the case were booked on September 29 under Section 20 (Offences against the dignity of a natural person) of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act and Section 109 (Punishment of abetment) of the Pakistan Penal Code.
In April 2018, Shafi took to Twitter to accuse Zafar of physically harassing her on ‘more than one occasion.’ “This happened to me despite the fact that I am an empowered, accomplished woman who is known for speaking her mind,” she said. In response, Zafar filed a defamation suit against Shafi.
He denied the allegations and wants her to pay restitution for the damage to his reputation and leveling false allegations against him.
Since then the two have been engaged in a legal battle. In a recent development, the Supreme Court approved Shafi’s workplace harassment case against Zafar.
The court has granted leave in Shafi’s appeal. This means the court is ready to debate whether Zafar’s alleged sexual harassment of Shafi counted as workplace harassment.
