Ali Zafar files Rs 1 bn defamation suit against actor Meesha Shafi, who accused him of sexual harassment

Actor-singer Ali Zafar in his defamation suit said that Meesha Shafi’s claims of sexual harassment have caused “tremendous injury” to his “reputation, goodwill, livelihood” through “false, slanderous and defamatory” allegations.

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

Meesha Shafi in April posted a long note on Twitter where she accused singer-actor Ali Zafar of sexual harassment. (Itsmeeshashafi/Twitter | HT Photo)

Filed under the Defamation Ordinance 2002 on Saturday, 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.

“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’.”

Earlier, Shafi had confirmed she had received a legal notice sent by Zafar’s counsel, asking the singer-cum-actor 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 Shafi took to Twitter to publicly accuse Zafar of physically harassing her on “more than one occasion”.

Ali had denied the allegations, saying he would take the matter through the courts of law.

(This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.)

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