ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court restrained on Tuesday showbiz stars Ali Zafar and Meesha Shafi from instituting unnecessary applications in a defamation suit filed by the former against the latter over allegations of sexual harassment.
A three-judge bench of the apex court, headed by Justice Mushir Alam, was hearing an appeal filed by Meesha seeking joint cross-examination of Zafar’s witnesses in the suit.
The bench directed the trial court to wind up the case at the earliest without granting unnecessary adjournments.
The court allowed Meesha’s lawyer to conduct joint cross-examination of Zafar’s witnesses, setting aside a Lahore court’s verdict that had rejected her plea to have the statements of witnesses recorded and their cross-examination conducted in separate hearings.
The top court directed the counsel to try completing cross-examination of the witnesses in one hearing.
Meanwhile, the bench directed Zafar’s lawyer to submit the affidavits of witnesses within seven days.
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Meesha had filed an appeal in the apex court challenging the Lahore High Court (LHC) order that had rejected her plea for joint examination of witnesses.
The singer-cum-actor, Ali Zafar, had taken Ms Shafi to a Lahore court last year in June after the latter accused him of sexual harassment. He requested the court to direct her to tender an apology over levelling baseless allegations and pay Rs1 billion in damages.
In a post shared on micro-blogging site Twitter, Meesha Shafi had claimed that she had been subjected to sexual harassment “of a physical nature” by Ali Zafar on multiple occasions.
