LAHORE: The counsel for singer-cum-actor Ali Zafar on Saturday partly cross-examined senior actor Iffat Omar, a witness of singer Meesha Shafi who accused the male fellow of sexual harassment.

Additional District and Sessions Judge Imtiaz Ahmad seized with a defamation suit of Zafar against the female singer administered the cross-examination.

Responding to the questions of Advocate Umar Gill, Zafar’s counsel, Ms Omar said her first work with Saba Hameed, the mother of Ms Shafi, was a PTV drama Nangay Paoon in 1993.

The counsel showed a video clip of Ms Omar’s interview wherein she claimed to have hugged senior actor Rahat Kazmi out of pleasure repeatedly during a drama shoot.

However, the actor termed her statement a joke.

To another question, Ms Omar said she could not recall correctly whether Zafar lodged a complaint with the FIA against her before or after her testimony in the suit.

The judge had to stop the cross-examination as Ms Omar said she was feeling faint. The judge directed the court staff to provide water and a chair to the actor.

The proceedings were resumed after over a 30-minute break.

Later, the judge adjourned hearing till Dec 19 while the cross-examination of the actor was in progress.

Ms Omer had recorded her testimony in the case last year but her cross-examination is still pending. She had told the court that Saba Hameed and her daughter Meesha both enjoyed a good reputation in the industry and were highly respected. Ms Omar said she could never imagine that they would ever lie.

In his suit, Zafar submitted that Shafi through a tweet on April 19, 2018 levelled baseless allegations of sexual harassment against him, which tarnished his image in public while his family had been facing agony and pain.

He said Ms Shafi failed to delete her tweet or issue an apology within 14 days of a legal notice served on her. He asked the court to issue a decree against the defendant with a direction to pay Rs1 billion as damages to him.

Published in Dawn, December 13th, 2020