File photo of Meesha Shafi. Karim Sahib—AFP
A U.K. High Court hearing a defamation claim of pop star Meesha Shafi against private channel New Vision TV, which broadcasts ARY News in the U.K., has found that the channel defamed the musician in a December 2020 broadcast.
During a preliminary hearing, the court found the channel had made defamatory statements by asserting in its broadcast that Shafi had deliberately failed to comply with court orders over two years in a defamation case filed against her by musician Ali Zafar. The channel, it said, depicted Shafi as “someone who does not comply with legal requirements laid down by a court and engages in such behavior repeatedly.”
This assertion, read the order, damaged her public image “in the estimation of right-thinking people generally,” adding the claimant is a very high-profile Pakistani celebrity who has “taken a leading role in the advancement of women’s rights, holding herself out as an example to society.” Due to her standing, it said, the channel’s coverage is “likely to have a seriously adverse impact on the way the claimant is treated, thus satisfying the seriousness threshold.” The channel must now submit its defense to the court’s findings by Jan. 26, 2024.
The defamatory broadcast was aired by New Vision TV—ARY U.K.—on Dec. 5, 2020, contending that Shafi “came to Pakistan, did her work and left.” It alleged the singer had ignored court orders to present herself in a defamation lawsuit filed by Zafar, opting to record a song in Pakistan and then return to Canada. The Dec. 5, 2020 broadcast showed images of Shafi alone and with Zafar; video footage of Zafar; as well as images of Shafi in a recording studio; images of a court order; video of the sessions court complex in Lahore; and images of tweets.
The singer relied on three separate but similar segments broadcast with countless tickers repeating the defamatory statements. In its order, the U.K. court said there would be a further hearing to set directions for how the case would proceed to trial.
In April 2018, Shafi accused Zafar on social media of sexual harassment on multiple occasions during their friendship and musical collaborations. Subsequently, Zafar denied the allegations and filed a defamation case against her. Shafi, similarly, filed a case of sexual harassment against Zafar in the Lahore High Court, which was rejected on technical grounds of the allegations not falling under the workplace harassment law.
In 2021, the Supreme Court agreed to hear her case to determine whether her allegations against Zafar fell under the country’s Protection Against Harassment of Women at the Workplace Act, 2010. That case is still pending.