Pakistan Actor-Singer Ali Zafar Absolved of Sexual Harassment Charges

Pakistani actor-singer Ali Zafar, who has been part of several Indian films, like Mere Brother Ki Dulhan, Kill Dil and Dear Zindagi, has won a major victory vis-à-vis his reputation, after an eight-year-long legal battle.

A Court in Lahore has ruled in favour of Zafar in a defamation case he had filed against singer Meesha Shafi. The Court directed Meesha to pay damages of five million Pakistani rupees to Zafar.

Zafar, who worked extensively in Mumbai until the unofficial ban on Pakistani artistes in India, had filed the suit against Meesha after she accused him of sexual harassment

In a historic ruling, the Lahore Court held that a social media post shared by Meesha in 2018 and an interview she gave to a magazine, contained “false, defamatory and injurious imputations” against Zafar.

The Court also ordered that Meesha be “permanently restrained from repeating, publishing, or causing to be published, directly or indirectly, the aforesaid defamatory allegations of sexual harassment of a physical nature against the plaintiff, in any form of media.”

This brings the curtain down on one of the most celebrated controversies in the Pakistani entertainment world.