Tag: pakistani court

  • Father of Asma Rani pardons his daughter’s murderer

    The father of the medical student Asma Rani, who was killed in 2018, has ‘pardoned’ the murderer of his daughter, Samaa has reported.

    “They wronged my daughter but I have decided to pardon the culprit for the sake of Allah’s blessings,” said Asma’s father.

    “I was also receiving threats in connection with the case and I was also told that ‘we are in the government, so you should consent to the settlement’ but I was adamant that I will see Asma’s killer at the gallows,” Dastageer said.

    Police say Dastageer pardoned the death sentence of Mujahid Afridi at a Jirga and the formal declaration of the settlement would be announced on September 5.

    However, the the member of Marwat Qaumi Jirga has said that they had turned down the request of Asma Rani’s father to attend the meeting that will take place at Kohat’s Tableeghi Markaz, Dawn has reported.

    Timeline:

    January 2018: Asma Rani was shot dead in Kohat in January 2018 for refusing a marriage proposal. She was taken to a nearby hospital after being shot thrice. In her last video, Asma named her murderer Mujahid Afridi. The video caused outrage in the country. Later, the accused fled the country.

    March 2018: Afridi was arrested from Dubai.

    April 2018: The trial was transferred from Kohat to Peshawar on the directives of the Peshawar High Court in April 2018.

    25 June 2021: District and Sessions Court in Peshawar handed over the death sentence to Mujahid Afridi.

  • Meesha Shafi shuts down fake reports of being sentenced to three years jail

    Meesha Shafi has trashed and shut down fake news reports which stated that she is being “sentenced to 3 years in jail for falsely accusing Ali Zafar of sexual harassment”.

    “Another day, another campaign spreading false information,” wrote the singer on Twitter. “Speaking up is way more exhausting than being groped.”

    Meesha further said: “This is why we end up suffering in silence. Sending lots of love and solidarity to all who speak up. It’s hard!”

    Meesha’s lawyer Asad Jamal also trashed the reports saying that “no such verdict has been passed by [the] trial court in the frivolous criminal defamation case instituted by Ali Zafar.”

    According to a report published in Samaa News, the entire matter started when fake news claiming that Shafi has been given a three-year sentence in a defamation case filed by Zafar started flashing on different Indian media outlets.

    On March 12, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ)published an article titled ‘Pakistani Singer Faces Prosecution for Accusing Pop Star of Groping Her‘. The report explained how Meesha “set off the country’s most high-profile #MeToo debate when she accused a fellow pop star of groping her. And now she was being prosecuted on a criminal defamation charge and is facing possible prison time.”

    UK-based tabloid Daily Mail misinterpreted the article in WSJ and wrote a misleading and false headline, which the Indian media picked and ran without verification. It is pertinent to add here that Zafar is a well-known name in India as he has worked in several successful Bollywood films.

    Later, Meesha also shared how she deals with “propaganda, abuse and false information”, detailing an hour-by-hour account of her day.

    Earlier, the Supreme Court (SC) of Pakistan approved Shafi’s harassment case against Ali Zafar for hearing, which meant that the SC granted permission to hear the appeal based on its legal points and will deliberate whether Shafi’s accusations of sexual harassment come under the workplace harassment law.

    Background of the case

    In 2018, Meesha first came forward with allegations of sexual harassment against Ali Zafar. She later filed a complaint with the provincial ombudsperson. After her appeal was rejected, she approached Governor Punjab, who upheld the ombudsperson’s decision. Meesha then challenged the Governor’s decision in Lahore High Court which again dismissed Meesha’s case for hearing on grounds that she did not have an employer-employee relationship with the accused.