Meesha Shafi to Pay 5 Million in Damages to Ali Zafar

A court in Lahore has ordered Meesha Shafi to pay 5 million rupees in damages to Ali Zafar in a defamation case.

This verdict concludes a very high-profile case that originally began with sexual harassment allegations back in 2018.

The legal battle ended after both legal teams finished their final arguments before the presiding judge.

Ali Zafar secured this favourable ruling after years of litigation following the claims made against him on social media.

Advocate Umar Tariq Gill argued that the false allegations caused serious and lasting damage to the reputation of his client.

He also maintained that no one other than the defendant had ever accused the plaintiff of such inappropriate conduct.

The legal team for the singer originally urged the court to order damages worth one billion rupees in this case.

Conversely, the representative for the defendant, Saqib Jilani, asked the court to dismiss the entire defamation suit with costs.

This dispute first started when Shafi alleged on X that Zafar made multiple unwarranted sexual advances towards her.

She specifically alleged that she had faced “harassment of a physical nature” during her interactions with the famous male artist.

This legal situation became one of the most prominent public disputes in Pakistan during the global MeToo movement era.

Both artists were very successful figures in the entertainment industry of Pakistan when the initial allegations were first made.

Shafi is well known for her music and also for her appearance in the film The Reluctant Fundamentalist.

Meanwhile, Zafar was actively working in Bollywood alongside his successful career as a musician in Pakistan.

Ali Zafar denied all the allegations shortly after they were posted and filed his own defamation suit in June 2018.

He alleged that the public accusations had significantly damaged his career and his standing within the broader celebrity community.

Meesha Shafi had initially filed a complaint regarding the alleged harassment before a workplace ombudsperson to seek some legal justice.

However, the authority dismissed her complaint on technical grounds because no employer-employee relationship existed between the two artists.

The court also imposed a gag order on Shafi in January 2019 to prevent any further defamatory statements.

This latest decision to award 5 million rupees marks a significant development in this long-running and complex legal battle.

Ali Zafar has now finally secured a legal victory after fighting these claims for several years.