Make-up artist, activist and Aurat March organiser, Leena Ghani appeared in the sessions court for her cross examination in a defamation suit against singer Meesha Shafi.

Starting her cross, Ghani accepted that “I have deposed in my evidence that after December 2016, I along with my sister and Zara Shahjahan stopped having contact with Ali Zafar.”

However, as appears in the court order, Zafar’s lawyers confronted the witness with the screenshots of WhatsApp chats dated 19.05.2017 & 04.08.2016 to Zafar by Ghani.

According to media reports, in screenshots of the chat from 2017, Ghani wished birthday to Zafar, saying “sending soooo much love your way.” She also asked Zafar to meet, saying “lets meet”.

Another website also posted some screenshots of Ghani’s chats with Zafar where she asked for favours related to meeting Bollywood celebrities

Leena Ghani had also stated in the evidence that her sister went to India to meet and stay with her childhood friend Sharmeen.

However, in WhatsApp chat with Zafar, Sharmeen said, “I have actually never lived in India.” She said Ghani travelled with Ali Zafar and was super excited to meet all the Bollywood celebrities!”

Ghani’s lawyer objected to the chats as Ghani pleaded ignorance towards them.

Ghani accepted, after her allegations against Zafar, she had been interviewed by many international media outlets and more were to come in future. However, she didn’t provide names of publications who interviewed her before allegations against Zafar.

Additional District and Sessions Judge Azhar Iqbal Ranjha was administering the cross-examination during hearing a defamation suit of Zafar against Shafi.

The judge adjourned further hearing till July 5 and directed the counsel of Shafi to present more witnesses for cross-examination.

Zafar filed a suit against Shafi for levelling allegations of sexual harassment on him. He said the allegations tarnished his image in public while his family had been facing agony and pain. He asked the court to issue a decree against Shafi and direct her to pay Rs1 billion as damages to him.