Ali Zafar files a defamation suit against singer Meesha Shafi

Ali Zafar has filed a defamation suit against singer Meesha Shafi, who accused him of sexual harassment two months ago on social media. The suit claims damages of Rs 1 billion.

Filed under the Defamation Ordinance 2002, Zafar has said in the notice that 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. (Also Read: In Pics: 10 facts about Pakistani singer Ali Zafar and his gorgeous wife Ayesha)

https://www.instagram.com/p/BhltHbFn6iA/?hl=en&taken-by=ali_zafar

“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, Shafi had confirmed she had received a legal notice sent by Zafar’s counsel, asking her 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.

It was in April that Meesha Shafi took to Twitter to publicly accuse Zafar of physically harassing her on “more than one occasion”. Ali Zafar had denied the allegations, saying he would take the matter through the court of law.