Judicial magistrate issues bailable arrest warrant for singer Meesha Shafi

LAHORE: Judicial Magistrate Ghulam Murtaza Virk on Wednesday issued bailable arrest warrant for singer Meesha Shafi as it turned down her application for exemption from personal appearance in a proceeding in a case pertaining to running a vilification campaign on social media against fellow singer-cum-actor Ali Zafar.

The court also issued bailable arrest warrant for another nominated suspect Maham Javed and directed both suspects to appear before the court on February 19 after submission of bail bonds worth Rs50,000 each.

The court had issued arrest warrants for both suspects in the previous hearing as well however both of them had filed applications seeking exemption from personal appearance.

The court said the suspects are not liable to file exemption pleas another time unless they surrender before the court, adding that Shafi and Javed did not render a suitable reason for seeking immunity. The court said Shafi and Javed sought exemption applications on the basis of being abroad.

The magistrate said the arguments on suspects’ pleas for permanent exemption from proceedings have also been completed.

He added that the petitions against the acquittal of suspects Ali Gul Pir and Leena Ghani are also pending for a long period while the lawyer of the plaintiff Zafar has not given arguments on acquittal and exemption applications yet.

The court warned that it will pronounce the verdict in the light of the prosecutor’s arguments in the next hearing if the plaintiff’s counsel would not give arguments.

Earlier, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) had submitted the challan against eight suspects including Shafi. The challan read that the suspects could not defend themselves on charges of running a malicious campaign on social media against the actor-cum-singer.

Zafar’s counsel had pleaded before the court to carry out action against the suspects under the cybercrime Act.

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