Case Update Status

Meesha shafi won the case against ARY News

Summary of Case

"On 13 Apr, 2021 singer Meesha Shafi won the case against ARY News. Meesha Shafi had presented her complaint against the news outlet before the PEMRA Council of Complaints. The Council found the outlet guilty of airing news that did not hold the truth and report in an “objective and balanced manner”. For this, the outlet has been fined PKR 200,000/- for its violations of the Code of Conduct.

ARY News broadcasted fake news against Meesha Shafi that she arrived in Pakistan and instead of appearing before the Court, went straight to the studio to record her songs and then left for Canada. In addition to this, ARY News briefly displayed a random order of the Court (as a source) at the same time when the anchor-person was broadcasting fake news about Meesha thereby manipulating the viewers into believing that the fake news was indeed correct. By doing so, ARY News violated several provisions of the Electronic Media (Programmes and Advertisements) Code of Conduct, 2015.”

According to lawyer of Meesha, Ms.Dania Mukhtar “Meesha Shafi is a survivor of sexual harassment who has already been a target of a smear campaign aimed at silencing her. There has been a frenzy of misinformation regarding the Court’s proceedings to which ARY News has also contributed. Therefore, our primary aim was to disseminate the truth to the public and set the record straight.”

“We filed the complaint before the PEMRA Council of Complaints and submitted the evidence which included all court orders. Those orders reflected the truth i.e. Ms. Shafi has been regularly appearing before the Court through her legal representatives and also appeared in person on 9 December 2019. In fact, the Council also noted that if Meesha Shafi had been violating Court’s orders then the Court would have taken necessary action against her by now. Despite the fact that these orders were part of public records and accessible to ARY News, the channel unethically broadcasted fake news,” added Mukhtar.

Moreover, the council found ARY News guilty of showing just one side of the matter and failed to obtain the other side’s point of view before reporting."

Category of Incident

Censorship

ICCS Status

ICCS Divisions: 0803-Acts related to freedom of expression or control of expression

ICCS Group: 08031-Acts against freedom of expression

ICCS Class: "N/A"

ICCS Crime: "Acts against freedom of expression "

Reported By

Cutacut

Date of incident

13

Month

April

Year

2021

Name of affected person

No person Affected

Other affected persons

No other person affected

Name of affected organization

ARY News

Other affected organizations

No other organization affected

Action by

Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA)

City

Karachi

Province

Sindh

Designation

N/A

Professional category

N/A

Age of victim

N/A

Marital Status

Compensation Details

Amount of compensation announced by government: No compensation announced by Government

Date of compensation announcement by government: N/A

Date of compensation paid by government: N/A

Amount of compensation announced by others: No compensation announced by Government

Date of compensation announced by others: N/A

Date compensation paid by others: N/A

FIR Details

Was FIR registered ?: No

Court Details

Was case investigated ?: N/A

Court where case was presented: Supreme Court

Name of prosecuting lawyer: N/A

Date of first court hearing:

Date of last court hearing:

Status of court case: Case won by Meesha Shafi

Journalist Union Status

PFUJ

N/A

APNS

N/A

CPNE

N/A

PBA

N/A

Media Source Status

Media reports:

Condemn Status

Colleague of victim

Not required

Employer organization

Not required

Press Club Status

Press club 1: Not required

Press club 2: Not required

Press club 3: Not required