March 31, 2026
By Xari Jalil
LAHORE
In a decree issued on Tuesday in the Ali Zafar Vs Meesha Shafi case, a Lahore Sessions’s Court has ordered that Meesha Shafi must pay Rs5million in damages to Ali Zafar, for levelling allegations of sexual harassment against him.
The verdict came amid a wave of immense disappointment to many of those who were hoping for a judgement more considerate of someone who had alleged sexual harassment.
Meesha Shafi’s lawyer Advocate Saquib Jillani told Voicepk that the detailed written verdict was yet to be released.
“The decree certainly went in the totally opposite direction of my expectations from the judge,” he said. “The judge Justice Asif Hayat is known to have a good reputation from his preceding verdicts and decisions, but this is not what I expected. DUring the trial, the impressions i got from the way the other party was being questioned and many other aspects, I thought the verdict would favour us. We shall see what the written order says.”
In a short order released in the evening the court declared the allegations by Shafi ‘false, defamatory and injurious imputations against the plaintiff’. Due to ‘injury to reputation, dignity and mental anguish’ therefore the court has ordered the defendant to pay the amount of Rs5,000,000.
It also said that the defendant is permanently restrained from repeating, publishing or causing to be published directly or indirectly the allegations of sexual harassment.
In the arguments presented by her lawyer it was highlighted that the plaintiff (i.e. Ali Zafar) had also filed another complaint against the defendant (Meesha) before FIA under section 20 of PECA 2016 in August 2018. This (first complaint) said that certain twitter accounts were also defaming him on the basis of the allegations of sexual harassment and requested the FIA to take action against those accounts. In this First Complaint, neither defendant nor any of her witnesses were nominated as accused persons.
“However, subsequently the Plaintiff acting maliciously and in bad faith filed a further/supplementary complaint on 20th July, 2019 (“Second Complaint”) with the FIA in which he nominated not only the Defendant but also her 5 key witnesses as accused persons. These witnesses were Leena Ghani, Maham Javaid, Humna Zubair, Humna Raza and Iffat Omar,” said the court document.
“Out of the afore-referred to witnesses Leena Ghani, Maham Javaid and Humna Raza had levelled similar allegations of sexual harassment against Plaintiff. It is admitted by the plaintiff in his own evidence that these women also made public allegations of sexual harassment against him.”
The argument on behalf of Shafi’s lawyer was that it was a malicious action on part of the plaintiff to harass the witnesses of the defendant so that these witnesses do not appear and give testimony in the court about their experience of sexual harassment at the hands of the Plaintiff.
It was specified that one of the key witnesses i.e. Humna Raza not only refused to appear in the court on behalf of the Defendant but after the registration of the FIR on 25th of September 2020 issued a written apology to the plaintiff and retracted from her earlier allegation against the plaintiff.
Background
Ali Zafar filed the defamation suit in 2018, where he said that his image had been tarnished by allegations made by singer Meesha Shafi. He said that the impact had caused great pain to his family. Zafar had been accused by Shafi that same year of sexually harassing her on more than one occasion. The claim was also backed up by other women too.
In his defamation suit, Zafar had asked the court to issue a decree against Meesha and direct her to pay Rs1bn as damages to him.
Last week Advocate Saqib Jilani, asked the court to dismiss the defamation suit with costs. Both lawyers for the plaintiff and the defendant had concluded their arguments.
Advocate Umar Tariq Gill, on behalf of Zafar, had argued that Shafi had levelled false allegations, causing serious damage to his reputation. He maintained that no one other than Shafi had ever accused Zafar of such conduct. He urged the court to allow the defamation suit and order the defendant to pay damages of Rs1bn to the plaintiff.
In his final arguments, he contended that no concrete evidence had been produced in support of the defamation claim by the plaintiff. He stated that Shafi had reported multiple incidents of alleged harassment, and she remained consistent in her statements, despite an extensive cross-examination by Zafar’s legal team. The counsel said Shafi cannot be punished for speaking about her own grievance through a defamation suit filed by the plaintiff.
Activists condemns verdict
The decree was met with an air of disappointment from many people especially those who have been speaking out against gender based violence since a long time.
Executive director of AGHS, Nida Aly, who is a lawyer and also part of the Anti Rape Act committee told Voicepk that while Meesha Shafi can file an appeal in a higher court, from a human rights perspective, the case reflects longstanding structural concerns within the legal system.
“The evidentiary burden in sexual harassment claims remains unreasonably high, often making it nearly impossible for complainants to succeed. What is presented as a “neutral” application of law rarely accounts for the realities of gender-based violence,” she said. She added that restrictive judicial interpretations and rigid legal standards continue to produce outcomes that reflect gender bias. At the same time, gag orders raised serious concerns for freedom of expression,
“One can only hope that, at the appellate stage, the High Court engages with the facts through a genuinely gender-sensitive lens and moves toward a more gender-competent approach in delivering a fair verdict,” she said.
Journalist and co chairperson of HRCP, Munizae Jahangir said that the main case was standing where it had been on the very beginning – still unresolved.
“This decision is a step back. It is an extremely bad precedent discouraging women who dare to file any complaint of harassment in court,” she said. ” On top of that Meesha Shafi is not even allowed to talk about it in interviews or online. Where is the right to freedom of speech?”
Meanwhile actress Iffat Umar also commented on the verdict criticizing it.
“For me, Meesha Shafi’s issue ended the day every girl who supported her — including me — was dragged into criminal cases,” she said. “I was told I could face three years in prison.”
Umar also spoke about the way they were intimidated as witnesses.
“People were silenced, pressured, bought, and scared,” she added. “On top of that, we were accused of running a foreign agenda, of being paid huge amounts in dollars..The truth is, every woman knows that at some point in her life, she has been physically harassed. Sometimes in a room full of people, someone touches you in a way you cannot even process, and you cannot even speak. We have all gone through this — as children, as young women, and even today.”
Umar then went on to express the disillusionment faced by women when it came to Gender Based Violence.
“When a star of this magnitude, who needed no fame, and comes from a respected family, speaks up — is it for fame? What did she gain from this case?The entire Lahore, the entire industry knows the truth.”
She ended her post with a disappointed tone.
“..My honorable courts, thank you for proving this…It’s a man’s world.”