LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Thursday heard singer Meesha Shafi’s appeal against the Punjab governor’s dismissal of her complaint of sexual harassment against the singer and actor, Ali Zafar.
Earlier, Shafi’s complaint had been rejected by the provincial ombudsperson who had rejected the complaint stating that it could not be heard on that forum as the two fellow singers Zafar “did not have an employer-employee relationship”.
Afterwards, on the advice of her counsel, she had approached the Punjab governor as he holds the competent authority to review any decisions made by the ombudsperson.
However, the Punjab governor upheld the ombudsperson’s decision on July 11, dismissing her request on “technical grounds” as well.
Shafi’s counsel Barrister Ahmed Pansota told Justice Shahid Kareem that his client’s complaint was first dismissed by the provincial ombudsperson in Punjab and then by the Punjab governor.
Meesha, in her appeal filed in the LHC on Wednesday, argued that the decision given by the Punjab governor was “contrary to the law” and requested the court to overturn the verdict.
She appealed to the high court to initiate proceedings against Ali Zafar for harassment.
The high court issued pre-admission notices to Zafar, the provincial ombudsperson and the Punjab governor, demanding their responses on the matter, after which the court will decide upon the maintainability of the petition. The case has been adjourned.
