A judicial magistrate has observed that singer Meesha Shafi and co-accused Maham Javed are playing hide and seek before the court and due to their absence, the trial of the case has badly hampered.
“They are making mockery of process of law and process of court. In these circumstances, they are not entitled of discretionary relief from this Court,” read a written order issued by judicial magistrate Ghulam Murtaza Virk on Monday.
With this observation, the judge dismissed the petitions of both Meesha Shafi and Maham Javed under section 205/540-A Cr.P.C and summoned them through bailable warrants of arrest of Rs.50,000/- each for 19.03.2021.
Both the accused persons in their petitions stated that they are permanent residents of Canada and United States of America and remained busy in their professional engagements outside the country therefore it is hard for them to appear before the court on each and every date of hearing. They have appointed their pleader counsel, therefore, their personal attendants may be dispensed with till the decision of the case.
The AD legal FIA assisted by learned counsel for the complainant, Ali Zafar, opposed these petitions on the ground that both the accused persons put their appearance before the court for the first time on 04.12.2021 and remained present before the court only for four dates and again left the country and have never appeared before the court despite issuance of their bailable warrants of arrest.
The court also dismissed petitions filed by accused Ali Gul Pir and Leena Ghani on the ground that they are innocent.
After two years of investigation, the FIA had lodged the FIR under Section 20 of the Pakistan Electronic Crime Act and Section 109 of Pakistan Penal Code against eight persons allegedly for running a smear campaign against Ali Zafar on social media.
The agency in its challan (investigation report) said the investigation established that all the suspects including Shafi posted serious/direct allegations and defamatory /derogatory content on social media against the complainant.
