LONDON/LAHORE: Singer Meesha Shafi has won a defamation case in the UK against ARY’s UK broadcaster, New Vision TV (NVTV). The channel has issued an on-air apology and agreed to settle the matter outside the court.
According to the private newspaper report, In its apology, NVTV admitted that its reporting may have caused a “misunderstanding” and said, “We are sorry if our broadcast caused Meesha Shafi any distress.”
As per the report, the case relates to a December 5, 2020 broadcast on ARY UK, in which NVTV claimed that Shafi had deliberately ignored court orders in Pakistan for two years. In 2023, the UK High Court ruled that these claims were defamatory and portrayed Shafi as someone who repeatedly disobeyed legal requirements.
The broadcast, which was presented as evidence in court, stated: “She [Shafi] came to Pakistan, did her work and left. Singer Meesha Shafi threw the court orders to the winds. She came to Pakistan, recorded a song and then returned to Canada. She did not appear in court. Ali Zafar has filed a defamation lawsuit against Meesha.”
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The UK court said such statements could harm Shafi’s public image and reputation. It added that ignoring court orders goes against shared values and that, as a public figure and advocate for women’s rights, such claims could seriously damage how Shafi is viewed in society.
The legal conflict began in 2018 when Shafi accused singer and actor Ali Zafar of sexual harassment. The case became one of the most high-profile incidents of the #MeToo movement in Pakistan. In response, Zafar filed a Rs1 billion defamation suit against Shafi, and she filed a counter defamation case.
In 2019, the Lahore High Court dismissed Shafi’s harassment case, stating it did not fall under the Protection Against Harassment of Women at the Workplace Act, 2010, due to technical reasons.
However, in 2021, the Supreme Court agreed to hear the matter to decide whether her complaint falls under the scope of the 2010 law. The case is still pending.
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