LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Monday partially suspended a lower court verdict in a defamation case against singer Meesha Shafi, allowing her to deposit half of the amount of damages with the court and furnish a surety bond for the remaining amount instead of making the payment to singer-cum-actor Ali Zafar.

The court, however, maintained Shafi would remain barred from repeating the allegations of sexual harassment against Zafar. As an interim relief, the bench suspended the trial court’s decision to the extent of the damages only.

The decision came on an appeal filed by Shafi following a sessions court order in March, in which she was directed to pay Zafar Rs5 million in damages for levelling allegations of sexual harassment against him.

The lower court had ruled that the allegations had “not been proved to be true or made for public good, and thus constitute actionable defamation”.

Subsequently, Shafi challenged the civil decree in the LHC.

Her appeal was taken up by a two-member bench, headed by Justice Ahmad Nadeem Arshad and including Justice Malik Waqar Haider Awan.

During the proceedings, her counsel, Saqib Jillani, sought the suspension of the impugned judgment and offered to deposit one-third of the amount she was ordered to pay in cash.

Initially, the bench turned down the request for partial payment, directing that the full amount should be deposited.

However, upon further request, the bench ordered Shafi to deposit Rs2.5m in cash with the court and furnish a surety bond worth the remaining Rs2.5m.

However, the bench observed that the restriction imposed by the trial court barring Shafi from making harassment allegations against Zafar would remain in force.

It also issued a notice to Zafar and adjourned the hearing. Zafar’s counsel, Umar Tariq Gill, present in the court, received the notice.

Shafi, in 2018, had accused Zafar of sexually harassing her on more than one occasion.

Subsequently, Zafar filed a defamation case against her, saying that Shafi’s allegations tarnished his image in public. In the defamation suit, Zafar asked the court to issue a decree against Shafi and direct her to pay Rs1bn as damages to him.