Actor Ali Zafar files Rs. 1 billion defamation suit against Pak singer Meesha Shafi for sexual harassment
Actor Ali Zafar files Rs. 1 billion defamation suit against Pak singer Meesha Shafi for sexual harassment
Actor-singer Ali Zafar has filed a defamation suit in a district court in Lahore against singer Meesha Shafi, who accused him of sexual harassment two months ago on social media. The suit claims damages of Rs. 1 billion.
The case is filed under the Defamation Ordinance 2002 on Saturday, Mr Zafar has said in the notice that Ms Shafi had caused "tremendous injury" to his "reputation, goodwill, livelihood" through "false, slanderous and defamatory" allegations, according to Geo News.
The suit reads: "As the defamatory statements are patently false, it can only be concluded that this malicious campaign has been launched against the plaintiff as part of a motivated conspiracy to tarnish the plaintiff's good image through making false accusations.
"The defendant has associated herself with the global #MeToo movement, with one of the launchers of the #MeToo movement Rose McGowan labeling the defendant as 'a heroine for our times'."
In the breakdown of the Rs. 1 billion damages, the notice read: "Be that as it may, that due to the defamatory campaign being spearheaded by the defendant, the plaintiff besides special damages in case of defamation further suffered the following damages: Mental torture Rs. 2 crore, Loss of contacts Rs. 8 crore, Loss of reputation/goodwill Rs. 50 crore, Loss of business opportunities Rs. 40 crore."
Earlier, Ms Shafi had confirmed she had received a legal notice sent by Mr Zafar's counsel, asking the singer-cum-actor to delete her tweet alleging harassment and issue an apology on Twitter, failing which he would file a Rs. 1 billion defamation case against her.
In April, Ms Shafi posted on Twitter to publicly accuse Mr Zafar of physically harassing her on "more than one occasion".
Mr Zafar had denied the allegations, saying he would take the matter through the courts of law.