LAHORE: A sessions court on Tuesday issued a notice to actor-cum-singer Ali Zafar on a fresh application of singer Meesha Shafi seeking permission to record her remaining cross-examination through a video link from Canada in a defamation suit by the former.

Filed through her counsel Saqib Jillani, the singer said she presented herself for the purpose of cross-examination by the counsel of the plaintiff on six hearings from Dec 12, 2021, to Jan 10, 2022, so that her cross-examination could be recorded and completed and she could be with her family in Canada where she is currently residing.

Unfortunately, she said, out of six, her cross-examination could only be recorded on two hearings on Jan 3 and 4 while on other hearings cross-examination could not be conducted due to one reason or the other but certainly for no reasons attributable to her.

Shafi said she had to leave for Canada on account of family reasons and unfortunately her nine-year-old daughter recently contracted Covid-19 and she had to attend to her daughter’s illness.

Court issues notice to Ali Zafar

Moreover, since she herself had been exposed to Covid-19 from her daughter she had been strictly advised to quarantine at home.

“In these circumstances, it is practically impossible for the defendant (Shafi) to come back to Pakistan physically and get her cross-examination recorded,” she said in her application.

The application said a number of recent judgements show that the superior courts welcomed the use of modern technological means of conducting the court proceedings particularly in order to save time and expense.

The court issued a notice to the plaintiff for his reply to the application by Feb 7.

In his suit, Zafar said the allegations of sexual harassment by Shafi tarnished his image in public and his family had been facing agony and pain. He asked the court to issue a decree against Shafi and direct her to pay Rs1bn as damages to him.

In a recent decision, the Lahore High Court has allowed a petition of Shafi to set aside a stay on a counter defamation suit filed by her against Zafar. However, the trial court is yet to resume hearing in it since a detailed verdict by the high court has not been issued.

Published in Dawn, February 2nd, 2022