LHC reserves verdict on Meesha Shafi’s appeal on Ali Zafar harassment case

0
194

The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Wednesday reserved its judgement on the appeal filed by singer Meesha Shafi against fellow artist Ali Zafar.

In the appeal, filed on August 2018, Shafi had challenged that the Punjab governor’s decision to dismiss her complaint against Zafar whom she has accused of sexual harassment.

Justice Shahid Kareem reserved the verdict in the case after hearing final arguments by the counsel of both Shafi and Zafar. No date was announced for the pronouncement of the verdict.

Shafi had initially filed a complaint accusing Zafar of harassment with the provincial ombudsperson, who had rejected it on technical grounds saying that as she and Zafar “did not have an employer-employee relationship”, the case could not be heard in that forum.

She then appealed against the decision before the Punjab governor, whom her legal team considered the competent authority to review any decisions made by the ombudsperson.

However, the Punjab governor upheld the ombudsperson’s decision in July 2018, dismissing her request on “technical grounds”.

Shafi had subsequently approached the LHC to challenge the governor’s decision.