Court dismisses Meesha’s plea seeking permission for recording statement thru video link

A sessions court on Tuesday dismissed an application of singer Meesha Shafi seeking permission to get her and her husband’s cross-examination recorded through a video link from Canada in a defamation suit by actor-cum-singer Ali Zafar.

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The court ordered Meesha Shafi to appear in person and adjourned the hearing till April 7.

During the course of arguments, Zafar’s counsel opposed the application of Shafi, saying his client was ready to bear the traveling expenses of the defendant and her husband. He said his client if ordered, was also ready to deposit the expenses with the court.

He further said the ground of the Covid-19 pandemic taken by Shafi for the video link arrangement was also contrary to facts as the situation across the world was not bad as it was earlier when the defendant returned to the country only to record songs.

On the other hand, the counsel for Shafi, relied on a Lahore High Court judgment wherein a witness had been allowed to get his cross-examination on video link from Dubai. He said Dubai was only a few hours air travel away from Pakistan while it took at least 17 hours to travel from Canada.

He also referred to a last year’s decision by a predecessor judge hearing the same defamation suit whereby the witnesses of Shafi living abroad had been allowed to get their statements recorded through Skype etc.

He said his client and her husband could not travel at the same time as one of them was supposed to look after their children.

After hearing the arguments, Additional District & Sessions Judge Khan Muhammad dismissed the application of Shafi.

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Zafar filed the defamation suit against Shafi for leveling allegations of sexual harassment on him. He said the allegations 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.