#MeToo: Amid Reports Of Meesha Shafi Facing Prison In Ali Zafar Case, Her Lawyer Responds

Meesha Shafi lawyers on Ali Zafar case: On Monday, reports floated that singer Meesha Shafi could be facing three years of jail in the defamation suit filed against her by Ali Zafar. Her lawyer has responded to the claims on social media, calling them "fake" and warning publications against "misreporting at the behest of vested interests."

Shafi had accused Zafar of sexual misconduct in 2018, following which the Channo singer had denied the charges and subsequently filed a defamation suit worth Rs 1 billion against Shafi the same year.

Meesha Shafi Lawyer Says No Verdict Yet

Lawyer Asad Jamal speaking for his client Shafi

This is with ref to the fake news claiming that my client Meesha Shafi has been sentenced to 3 yrs imprisonment.

No such verdict has been passed by trial court in the frivolous criminal defamation case instituted by Ali Zafar against several women.

Read complete statement below pic.twitter.com/49vRSXtvFe

— Asad Jamal (@LegalPolitical) March 15, 2021 on Twitter that no verdict has been passed by Pakistan's courts yet on the case concerning Shafi and Zafar, and so she hadn't been awarded a prison sentence at all. He even named a prominent Indian news publication for "reporting the hoax as verified news." He added, "The court has not even indicted any of the several men and women accused by Ali Zafar of spreading falsehood… We are confident that the prosecution’s case cannot succeed.”

This is with ref to the fake news claiming that my client Meesha Shafi has been sentenced to 3 yrs imprisonment.

No such verdict has been passed by trial court in the frivolous criminal defamation case instituted by Ali Zafar against several women.

Read complete statement below pic.twitter.com/49vRSXtvFe

— Asad Jamal (@LegalPolitical) March 15, 2021

Jamal also claims a delay in the case's progress comes from the prosecution's end. In January this year, Pakistan's top court had given the go-ahead on a hearing of Shafi's case. The matter concerned whether Shafi's #MeToo complaints against Zafar were valid under the Protection Against Harassment of Women at the Workplace Act of 2010, something that had been declared invalid earlier.

Shafi, currently based in Canada with her family, was one of the first to fuel national attention to Pakistan's #MeToo movement in 2018. Read more about her here.