The Lahore High Court (LHC) Wednesday rejected the dismissal plea of singer Meesha Shafi and her companions challenging a case registered under the FIA cybercrime law on a complaint of actor-cum-singer Ali Zafar on charges of running a malicious campaign against him, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.

The LHC instead imposed a fine on Meesha Shafi while rejecting her plea.

The petitioners include Meesha Shafi, Maham Javed, Iffat Omar, Fareeha Ayub, Haseeb Ur Rehman and Syed Faizan Raza who had challenged the validity of section 20 of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act 2016 (Peca) as being in violation of fundamental rights of the citizens protected under the Constitution.

The federal government, the federal investigation agency (FIA) and Ali Zafar were respondents in the petition.

Now the LHC’s Justice Tariq Saleem Sheikh announced the reserved verdict and rejected the plea to dismiss Ali Zafar’s case against Meesha Shafi.

Petitioners counsel claimed that the impugned FIR is an abuse of process and a violation of the petitioners’ right to a fair trial under Article 10-A of the Constitution in respect of the civil defamation suit.

He requested to quash the FIR lodged by the FIA against the petitioners and also declare the section 20 of Peca void as being contrary to various provisions of the Constitution.

 

Reporter Malik Ashraf