Meesha witness admits misreporting against Ali Zafar’s film

Hamna Zubair, a former journalist and witness of singer Meesha Shafi, has admitted in the court that she misreported the premiere of Ali Zafar’s film Teefa-in-Trouble in Dawn Images.

In her cross-examination, Hamna Zubair told the court: “When I arrived at the premier I did not see many celebrities and I could not gauge whether the premier was successful or not. I did not go into the cinema hall to gauge how many people were there.”

At this point, she was confronted with an article written by her about the movie in Dawn Images.

Hamna Zubair admitted: “It is true that in my article dated 02.8.2018, I have stated that I actually went into the cinema hall and it was half full.”

The article titled "We Need To Talk About Teefa In Trouble" was made part of the court record.

However, Ms Zubair denied that she was invited by the protestors to cover the protest and that was the reason why her article highlighted protest more than the movie.

In her evidence, Ms Zubair admitted before a court that she was in contact with singer Meesha Shafi and had already taken a statement before her tweet against Ali Zafar.

She said: “it is correct that I have not contacted the plaintiff (Ali Zafar) prior to the defendant’s (Meesha Shafi’s) tweet though I was in touch with the defendant and had already taken her statement regarding the allegations.”

However, Hamna Zubair said, she never committed to her (Meesha Shafi) about publishing anything. "When the defendant (Ms Shafi) contacted me I did say that I “could” publish her allegations if she went public. However, this does not imply a commitment on my part neither anything else other than what I said," the former journalist told the court.

Ms Zubair was also confronted with her Whatsapp message which showed that she had taken a screenshot of Ms Shafi’s tweet exactly 13 seconds after posting it.”

The former journalist also said that she had contacted Zafar for his version but did not wait for the response before publishing her article, however, incorporated the same in the article as soon as she got it. She admitted that the article was posted five minutes after she contacted the plaintiff (Ali Zafar) for his rebuttal.

The court allowed the witness to present some of her tweets regarding other cases of sexual harassment.

The journalist said it was correct that the plaintiff had filed a complaint against her before the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA): however, did not know the details as she never received any notice from the agency.

As the cross-examination was completed, Additional District & Sessions Judge Azhar Iqbal Ranjha adjourned further hearing till Sept 9, 2021.

Ali Zafar filed a suit against Meesha Shafi for levelling allegations of sexual harassment on him. He said the allegations had tarnished his image in public while his family had been facing agony and pain.