ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court of Pakistan on Monday admitted for regular hearing an appeal filed by singer Meesha Shafi in a sexual harassment case and issued notices to the government of Punjab and Ali Zafar, the fellow singer.
A three-member bench of the apex court headed by Justice Mushir Alam granted leave to appeal to Meesha against the Lahore High Court's order in the sexual harassment case against fellow singer Ali Zafar.
Earlier, the Lahore High Court and the Punjab ombudsperson had rejected Meesha’s appeals on the grounds that the alleged harassment was not covered by the workplace harassment law. On Monday, the court observed that the points raised by the petitioner need to examine and issued notices to the advocate general Punjab and the respondent, Ali Zafar. The court clubbed the matter with a suo motu notice taken to define sexual harassment and adjourned the matter for date-in-office (indefinite period). Meesha had filed an appeal in the Supreme Court through her counsel Khwaja Ahmad Hosain, praying to order that her case be remanded back to the provincial ombudsperson with a directive that the complaint against Ali Zafar be heard and decided under the Protection against Harassment of Women at the Workplace Act of 2010.