Following a no-show by the witnesses of Ali Zafar and the singer not in the country, a hearing of the Rs1-billion defamation case against musician-model Meesha Shafi was adjourned to August 8 on Tuesday.
During the hearing, Additional Session Judge Amjad Ali Shah also called Zafar to court on August 8 to be cross-examined by Shafi’s legal squad after his declaration was registered previously this month.
Zafar retained through the legal team that Shafi had leveled false allegations against him and claimed that his reputation had been impacted by the claims of sexual harassment. He also repeated his application to the tribunal to order Shafi to pay him Rs1 billion in damages.
As of now, 12 of the 24 witnesses mentioned by Zafar’s team have registered their statements in court, including the defendant. Earlier, a hearing on July 3 was adjourned until July 15, but on Monday, neither the singer nor any of his witnesses appeared. His team asserted the judge had not appeared.
Therefore, the hearing of July 15 was not held and Judge Shah adjourned it to August 8 on Tuesday. A day before, Shafi’s lawyer, Saqib Jillani, had said that the defamation trial was scheduled for a hearing on the same day as previously reported, but Zafar’s team no longer produced witnesses in court. He had said previously that Zafar’s team had notified that while the singer would be traveling, more witnesses would be presented.
Noting at the moment that they were subsequently waiting to postpone the hearing until the end of this month, Jillani had said that he himself would be traveling for a couple of days, and therefore the hearing was scheduled for August 8. Since the defendant’s journey overseas, Zafar’s cross-examination was planned for later this month, Meesha’s lawyer had added.
On the other hand, a representative of Zafar’s legal team, Hasham, said Monday the judge was not in court and on Tuesday a new date would be given. Zafar had stated in the last hearing on July 3 that he was supporting the # MeToo movement but was being misused against him. He also spoke about the other four colleagues who leveled sexual harassment charges against him.
