Meesha Shafi, the Pakistani singer who accused Pakistani singer and actor Ali Zafar of sexual harassment during the #MeToo movement, on Monday denied reports of her getting a three-year jail term in the criminal defamation case filed by Zafar.
On April 19, 2018, Shafi had claimed that Zafar groped her in December 2017 at a recording studio in his residence before a concert that the two performed at, according to a Daily Mail report.
Sharing this because I believe that by speaking out about my own experience of sexual harassment, I will break the culture of silence that permeates through our society. It is not easy to speak out.. but it is harder to stay silent. My conscience will not allow it anymore #MeToo pic.twitter.com/iwex7e1NLZ
— MEESHA SHAFI (@itsmeeshashafi) April 19, 2018
Soon after her revelation, the Tere Bin Laden actor filed a criminal defamation case against her for causing “irreparable” damage to his career and denied the allegations made by her.
The criminal defamation charge carries a maximum sentence of three years imprisonment.
Eight others who had also accused Zafar of sexual misconduct over the internet have also been charged.
Since the past few days, many publications reported that Shafi is facing three years of jail term for falsely accusing Zafar of sexual misconduct.
On Monday, Shafi’s lawyer Asad Jamal took to Twitter claiming the reports to be “fake news” and that no such verdict had been passed by the trial court in the “frivolous” criminal defamation case filed by Zafar against several women.
Jamal wrote in a statement that “news media outlets such as the The Times of India are also reporting the hoax as verified news”.
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Claiming it to be “incorrectly reported”, Jamal wrote: “It is ridiculous how the news media have jumped to spreading the fake news, misleading their viewers and readers by relying on an imagined reaction from my client to the imagined court verdict. In fact, the court has not even indicted any of the several men and women accused by Ali Zafar of spreading falsehood.”
The statement said that the “delay so far has been caused by the prosecution which is evident from the fact that it took the adjudicating judge to pass strict orders for (the) appearance of the prosecutor to submit the investigation report.”
“We are confident that the prosecution’s case cannot succeed,” said Jamal.
Warning the media who are “misreporting” facts, Jamal wrote that “at the behest of vested interests that we reserve the right to take legal action against them at appropriate occasion”.
On Wednesday, Shafi slammed the misinformation on her Instagram handle.
View this post on Instagram
Recently in India, senior journalist Priya Ramani who accused former Union Minister MJ Akbar of alleged sexual misconduct was acquitted of all charges on February 17 by a New Delhi Court in the defamation case filed by Akbar.
In 2018, during the heyday of the #MeToo movement, Ramani accused Akbar of sexual misconduct in 1993 following which the latter filed a criminal defamation case against her for causing “irreparable” damage and harming his “impeccable reputation”. More than 20 women accused Akbar of sexual misconduct and he denied all charges claiming that he doesn’t remember the incident and has alleged that Ramani’s allegations were “malicious and fabricated”.