LAHORE: The Lahore High Court’s website on Saturday showed a changed result in the post-arrest bail of Leader of Opposition in National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif with no written order issued so far by a two-judge bench.

Till Friday, the website showed the petition as “allowed”. However, it displayed a new decision on Saturday, which said the petition stood “disposed of”.

The bench comprising Justice Sardar Mohammad Sarfraz Dogar and Justice Asjad Javed Ghural had on April 14 allowed, through a short order, the petition of Shehbaz in a money laundering reference filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and directed him to submit bail bonds worth Rs5 million.

Later, it emerged that Justice Ghural did not sign the short order. There were unconfirmed reports that the judge dissented with the bail granting order. However, there had been no official word on the controversy except a last day’s statement by the LHC spokesman, advising the media to avoid undue speculations about the bench’s order before it was signed.

Legal experts say the fresh decision shown on the website suggests that the bench comes up with a dissented decision, since one of its members had already disclosed his verdict by signing the short order.

Earlier, it had displayed the matter was ‘allowed’

As per the new roster of the judges for the week commencing from April 19, Justice Dogar and Justice Ghural would work at Multan and Bahawalpur seats, respectively.

A new division bench comprising Justice Alia Neelum and Justice Farooq Haider has been constituted to hear the cases relating to NAB at the principal seat.

Meesha case: Make-up artist and rights activist Leena Ghani said on Saturday during her cross- examination as a witness of singer Meesha Shafi in a harassment case against actor-cum-singer Ali Zafar, that the outcome of the legal fight between the two artists would have a direct effect on the “Me too” movement in Pakistan.

“Because if so many women speake up [about] the trauma [they suffered] at the hands of one man and if he wins that means Pakistan has been left behind and Pakistan does not care about its women and the survivors of sexual harassment,” she explained, responding to the questions of Mr Zafar’s counsel before a sessions court.

About an apology tendered by a woman, Hamna Raza, for leveling harassment allegations against Zafar, she said it was sad that women were forced to apologise for their trauma caused by the harassers and predators.

Ms Ghani had also accused Mr Zafar of causing her sexual harassment during a fashion show in London back in 2014.

The cross-examination of the witness was in progress when Additional District & Sessions Judge Azhar Iqbal Ranjha adjourned further hearing till April 24.

Mr Zafar filed a defamation suit against Ms Shafi for leveling “false” allegations of sexual harassment against him. He said the allegations tarnished his image in the public, while his family had been facing agony and pain. He asked the court to issue a decree against Ms Shafi and direct her to pay Rs1 billion as damages to him.

Published in Dawn, April 18th, 2021