LAHORE: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) cyber crime wing on Monday booked singer Meesha Shafi and eight others for his or her alleged involvement during a smear campaign against singer-actor Ali Zafar.
The FIR against the suspects was filed for a non-cognisable offence on the order of the FIA special court.
Ms Shafi, actor-host Iffat Omar, Leena Ghani, Fariha Ayub, Maham Javaid, Ali Gul, Haseemuz Zaman Khan, Humna Raza and Syed Faizan Raza are booked under section 20 (1) of Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act 2016 and R/W 109-PPC.
“Prior permission from the special court is required by the investigation officer to arrest the suspects because it may be a non-cognisable offence,” a politician told Dawn.
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According to the FIR, the suspects were summoned multiple times by the FIA cyber crime wing to present their defence, failing which granted a explanation for criminal proceedings against them.
Hearing of defamation suit adjourned
In November 2018, Ali Zafar had filed a complaint with FIA cyber crime wing, alleging that a lot of social media accounts were posting “threats and defamatory material” against him. He provided details of some Twitter and Facebook accounts to support his claim.
Zafar had alleged that a lot of fake accounts had been created to launch a smear campaign against him weeks before Meesha Shafi’s allegation of harassment against him in April, 2018. He stated that the majority of those fake accounts were allegedly connected to Ms Shafi.
“A twitter account @nehasaigol1, which posted 3,000 defamatory tweets against me and my family only in one year, [was] created 50 days before Meesha’s allegations of harassment ,” the singer-actor told FIA with documentary ‘evidence’.
Ms Shafi, also a singer, had appeared before the FIA together with her team of lawyers in December 2019.
The FIR says Ms Shafi did not produce any witness in favor of her allegation (of sexual harassment) against Ali Zafar.
According to the FIR, Leena Ghani was also summoned, but she didn't happen and sent her written statement which wasn't found satisfactory.
“She [Ms Ghani] was found involved in publicly posting defamatory content against the complainant on Twitter on April 19, 2018. Fariha Ayub and Maham Javaid were also summoned fourfold but they didn't happen to hitch the inquiry. Iffat Omar appeared, but didn't record her statement with the request to offer her time, but despite repeated requests did not record her statement,” the FIR says.
The FIR says Ali Gull, using his Twitter ID @Aligulpir, posted derogatory remarks against Zafar. “He was summoned thrice, but he deliberately didn't happen and submitted his statement to the FIA Karachi.”
However, it says Gull’s statement was found unsatisfactory and didn't fulfill the merit of inquiry.
Similarly, Humna Raza submitted her statement which was also found “unsatisfactory”, the FIR says and adds Haseemuz Zaman was summoned fourfold but didn't join the investigation.
Syed Faizan Raza recorded his statement, saying he made allegations against the complainant through tweets “based on public opinion”. However, his statement was found unsatisfactory.
A defamation suit filed by Mr Zafar against Ms Shafi has also been pending with a session’s court.
Meanwhile, the hearing of a defamation suit filed by singer Ali Zafar against fellow singer Meesha Shafi was adjourned on Monday thanks to unavailability of the presiding judge of a sessions court.
On the previous hearing, Additional District and Sessions Judge Yasar Hayat had summoned Ms Shafi and her witnesses for his or her cross-examination.
On Monday, the legal team of Zafar was present within the court while an office-clerk informed the court’s reader about unavailability of Barrister Saqib Jilani, the defendant’s counsel, before Oct 10.
The court staff, however, fixed Oct 3 because the next date of hearing of the suit.
In his suit, Zafar said Ms Shafi through a tweet on April 19, 2018, levelled baseless and unfounded allegations of harassment against him, which resulted in tarnishing his image publicly while his family had been facing agony and pain.
He said she did not delete the tweet and issue an apology supported the tweet within 14 days of a legal notice served on her. He asked the court to issue a decree against Ms Shafi directing her to pay Rs1 billion as damages to him.
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