LAHORE: A district and sessions courtroom on Tuesday adjourned court date of a defamation suit of singer/actor Ali Zafar against fellow singers Meesha Shafi after affidavits filed on behalf of the former’s 7 witnesses declined the incident of sexual harassment as alleged by the latter. Advocate Rana Intizar uploaded the affidavits of the witnesses, including guitarist Asad Ahmed, bass player Muhammad Ali, drummer Qaisar Zain, backing vocalist Aqsa Ali, saxophone players Muhammad Taqi, percussionist Kashif Chaman and keyboard player Joshua Keith.
All the witnesses managed that no event of sexual harassment, like alleged by Ms. Shafi, had taken place through the jamming session held on Dec 22, 2017. In his affidavit, guitarist Ahmed said that during the entire session, eyes of most performers were on Ms. Shafi and Zafar and no incident as alleged by the woman singer took place there. Extra District and Sessions Judge Amjad Ali Shah adjourned more court date till May 29 and summoned the witnesses for cross-examination.
In his suit, Zafar said Ms Shafi through a tweet on April 19, 2018, levelled baseless and unfounded allegations of sexual harassment against him, which resulted in tarnishing his picture in public areas, while his family had been dealing with agony and pain. He declared she unsuccessful to erase the tweet and issue an apology based on the tweet within 14 days of a lawful notice served on her. He requested the courtroom to problem a decree against Ms Shafi directing her to pay Rs1 billion as problems to him.
