Meesha Shafi wins first part of her defamation case against ARY/NVTV in the London High Court

After a preliminary trial at the London High Court, Meesha Shafi is reported to have won the first part of her defamation case against ARY’s UK broadcaster New Vision TV Limited (NVTV).

The court’s judgement determined that Meesha Shafi was defamed at the highest level by the channel over several broadcasts related to her harassment case against singer Ali Zafar.

 

After a trial, the Royal Court of Justice Judge Johnson declared that the words broadcast were statements of fact and meant that: “Court orders had been made over 2 years requiring the Claimant (Meesha Shafi) to attend court in Pakistan for defamation proceedings. The Claimant knew of the orders but did not comply with them. She travelled to Pakistan from Canada and deliberately ignored the court’s orders as required instead of complying with them. She recorded a song and then returned to Canada.”

In his determination, the judge said that the following words used by the channel “threw the court orders to the winds” went beyond what the parties had set out and meant that Meesha Shafi had deliberately ignored court orders.

The judge stated that there might be some circumstances in which it may not be defamatory at common law to suggest a person did not comply with court orders, for example, if a party failed to paginate court bundles as the court required.

However, in this case, the judge said the channel conveyed that the celebrated singer and activist Meesha Shafi had failed over a substantial period to comply with a court order which was not technical but fundamental as it required a party to attend court.

The court ruled this was defamatory at common law of the singer who set the South Asian music charts on fire with her hits such as Jugni (Alif Allah), Dasht-e-Tanhai, Aya Lariye, Boom Boom, Hot Mango Chutney Sauce, Muaziz Saarif and several others.