Lahore: In the Lahore sessions court on Monday, Ali Zafar presented a pile of documents as evidence to prove how Meesha Shafi made a false allegation against him just before the recording of a TV program conducted by a multinational beverage company to have him removed from the program.
Earlier Rizwan Raees, who has been both Ali Zafar’s and Meesha’s manager, testified in court that Meesha tried to threaten and blackmail Ali Zafar to pull out of a hefty amount from the multinational company and have Ali removed from it.
In his testimony today, Zafar said that Shafi’s allegations had caused him “emotional and financial damage”. He said that he was shocked and hurt that anyone could do such a thing specially a friend you have known for years.
“I asked that I be told when and where I harassed Meesha Shafi,” he said.
“I sent a legal notice to Meesha Shafi immediately after she accused me [of harassment] and demanded an apology,” Zafar told the court. He also submitted records of messages that he claimed were sent to him by Shafi, along with the tweets posted on her account.
Zafar claimed that before accusing him publicly, Shafi had sent him a message through his manager Rizwan Raees, telling him to “stay away from the Pepsi contract or she would level allegation of sexual harassment against him.”
He claimed that Raees had told him that Shafi “will not be alone in her accusing [the singer] of harassment and will have “other girls” with her ready to accuse him.”
“Meesha Shafi said that she will start a movement with her allegations,” Zafar claimed.
“Meesha not only blackmailed Ali but also the multinational beverage company to extort more money from them and drop Ali Zafar from the recording. However, Ali refused to be threatened or blackmailed so she went ahead with the false allegation” earlier Raees recorded his statemnt in court.
Ali Zafar in court confirmed this saying “The message I received from Meesha through my agent Rizwan was to step aside from the project or I will suffer. She said that if I don’t leave the project she will publicly accuse me of harassment and furthermore she would not be alone. She said she will use the internationally renowned and respected #metoo movement and warned me of the magnitude and impact of the movement. She added that when she comes out with the allegation riding on the movement, she will have “other women” with her along with the press and I should be wary of the fact that being a woman she would have people’s sympathies and support and there would be nothing I would be able to do to save myself so I should be smart enough to quietly step aside which I refused to do hence she tweeted the alleged harassment just minutes before my flight to attend the recording.”
Prior to this 11 eyewitnesses including women denied Meesha’s allegations in court under oath calling them false and frivolous.
Meesha’s allegations came as Pakistan was in the grip of the #Metoo movement that started with allegations against Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein. The movement saw thousands of women worldwide opening up about experiencing sexual misconduct at the hands of men. However, some cases including the recent Amber Heard case where Depp presented evidence against Herd of physically assaulting him in court raised questions of the movement being misused at the hands of some.
Ali Zafar went to court immediately with a defamation lawsuit, emphasizing that he his reputation as an artist had been damaged by the allegation and demanded being paid money for the damages.
The case has since been continuously in the news, with both Ali and Meesha trying to win the battle in and outside the court. Ali Zafar has since appeared in numerous TV interviews to put up his side of the story. He even broke down in tears in one interview.
Both sides are hoping to set a strong precedent through this case. Ali Zafar, to prevent defamation and Meesha Shafi to encourage reporting of harassment.
Next hearing is set for Wednesday, 3rd July, 2019.
