LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Monday conditionally suspended a trial court’s verdict ordering singer Meesha Shafi to pay Rs5 million in damages to fellow singer-cum-actor Ali Zafar in a defamation case, while maintaining restrictions on her from repeating her harassment allegations against him.

A two-member bench headed by Justice Ahmad Nadeem Arshad heard Shafi’s appeal against the sessions court verdict passed on March 31. Justice Malik Waqar Haider Awan was the other member of the bench.

During the proceedings, her counsel, Saqib Jillani, sought suspension of the impugned judgment and offered to deposit one-third of the amount she was ordered to pay in cash.

Initially, the bench turned down the request for partial payment, directing that the full amount should be deposited.

However, upon further request, the bench ordered Shafi to deposit Rs2.5m in cash and furnish a surety bond worth the remaining Rs2.5m. As an interim relief, the bench suspended the trial court’s decision to the extent of the damages.

However, the bench observed that the restriction imposed by the trial court barring Shafi from making harassment allegations against Zafar would remain in force.

It also issued a notice to Zafar and adjourned the hearing. Zafar’s counsel, Umar Tariq Gill, present in the court, received the notice.

In March, a sessions court had ordered Shafi to pay Rs5m in damages for levelling harassment allegations against Zafar, holding that the accusations were not made in the public interest.

“The defendant is further permanently restrained from repeating, publishing, or causing to be published, directly or indirectly, the aforesaid defamatory allegations of sexual harassment of a physical nature against the plaintiff, in any form of media, including print, electronic or social media,” the judgment said.

Shafi, in 2018, had accused Zafar of sexually harassing her on more than one occasion.

Subsequently, Zafar filed a defamation case against her, saying that Shafi’s allegations tarnished his image in public. In the defamation suit, Zafar asked the court to issue a decree against Shafi and direct her to pay Rs1bn as damages to him.

LAHORE: An anti-corruption court on Thursday granted interim pre-arrest bail of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s daughter Rabia Imran and her husband Ali Imran Yousaf in a case of alleged irregularities in the Punjab Saaf Pani Company (PSPC).

The couple appeared before the court, where Judge Javed Iqbal Warraich presided over the proceedings.

The court allowed the bail petitions and sought a reply from the Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) by the next hearing on May 4.

The couple had earlier been declared proclaimed offenders due to their absence from the country. They later approached an accountability court, which last week suspended their arrest warrants and allowed them to surrender before the law.

However, the case was transferred to the anti-corruption court as the accountability court lost jurisdiction following amendments to the National Accountability Ordinance.

The couple was accused of getting illegal monetary benefits by renting out their building to PSPC to establish its office.

Other suspects, including PM Shehbaz and senior bureaucrats, have already been acquitted in the case.

The Saaf Pani scam had surfaced after the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had launched a thorough probe in November 2017 into alleged corruption in the 56 public-sector companies, including the PSPC, formed by the administration in Punjab led by Shehbaz at the time.

These companies were accused of certain irregularities, recruitment in violation of procurement rules and merit, nepotism, and non-completion of various projects in time.

NAB had launched a probe against Yousaf, accusing him of getting Naveed Akram appointed as chief financial officer of PSPC in violation of merit. Akram was also accused of transferring Rs120 million to Yousaf’s account.

Imran and her husband also secured interim pre-arrest bail in a money laundering case on Tuesday from a special court.

Judge Ashfaq Ahmed heard and allowed the bail petitions of the couple, subject to submission of surety bonds, and restrained the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) from arresting them till May 7.