Lahore High Court on Friday eliminated a petition filed by singer Meesha Shafi in a case of harassment filed by her against fellow artist Ali Zafar.
In the appeal, filed in August 2018, Shafi challenged the defender of the people of Punjab (Protection against harassment of women in the workplace) and the governor's decision to dismiss his complaint against Zafar, whom he accused of sexual harassment .
On October 2, Judge Shahid Kareem reserved the verdict in the case after hearing the lawyers' final arguments.
Shafi initially filed a complaint accusing Zafar of harassment before the provincial ombudsman, who rejected it for technical reasons saying that she and Zafar "did not have an employer-employee relationship," the case could not be heard in that forum.
He then appealed the decision to the governor of Punjab, whom his legal team considered the competent authority to review the decisions made by the ombudsman.
However, the governor of Punjab confirmed the decision of the ombudsman in July 2018, dismissing his request for "technical reasons."
Subsequently, Shafi approached the LHC to challenge the governor's decision.
On behalf of Shafi, lawyer Ahmed Pansota and Saqib Jilani had told the court that the governor of Punjab had dismissed his client's appeal by confirming the view that the office of the ombudsman was not the appropriate forum to hear that complaint .
The lawyer argued that it was not a prerequisite for two parties to have an employer-employee relationship in a sexual harassment case, and that the provincial ombudsman could be approached with a complaint about sexual harassment in the workplace.
The petition asked the court to declare the governor's decision to dismiss Shafi's complaint invalid and order the proceedings against Zafar to be harassed.
On the other hand, Zafar's lawyer had argued that the case was not subject to the law on workplace harassment.
Source: https://www.dawn.com/news/1510271/lhc-dismisses-meesha-shafis-appeal-in-harassment-case-against-ali-zafar