FIA Overstepping Mandate by Announcing Meesha Shafi as Guilty
Yesterday, the Dawn news released a headline announcing Meesha Shafi as guilty according to the FIA. The FIA is clearly overstepping its mandate in this.
Yesterday, 16th December, a headline by Dawn News went viral where the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) overstepped its mandate and declared Meesha Shafi and eight others ‘guilty’ of running a defamation campaign on social media against the Pakistani actor/singer, Ali Zafar, and asked the court to begin the trial regarding this case. To say, that Dawn’s headline is misleading would be an understatement.
The FIA has seriously overstepped its mandate and rendered a judgment. The reason why the FIA interim challan and the Dawn headline is considered misleading is that the agency’s sole purpose is to perform an investigation regarding the case. According to Nighat Dad, is a Pakistani lawyer and social activist who runs her own NGO known as the Digital Rights Foundation, took to her Twitter to express her disappointment over the headline.
Moreover, Nighat Dad clearly stated to decide whether the content is defamatory or not is completely under the court’s jurisdiction. The FIA’s job is simply under PECA is to investigate the offense and not determine guilt. Dawn News was the first to jump on the bandwagon and quickly print an article, even though the FIA was overstepping its mandate, it spread like wildfire, agency after agency copied the misleading headline and print news without even bothering to research.
It’s the court of law which is supposed to decide whether certain content is defamatory and take cognizance accordingly. The FIA’s job under PECA is merely to “INVESTIGATE” an offence & not to determine guilt. As usual misleading headline by @dawn_com especially in this case. https://t.co/le1j6BkwDa
— Nighat Dad (@nighatdad) December 16, 2020
It is saddening to see that media, today, only exists to regurgitate PR statements. It is a media agency’s job to research and report claims and make sure that the correct news goes front. If the FIA is overstepping its investigative mandate, it was the media’s job to announce this rather than just posting it as it is for PR. Therefore, the Dawn headline is misleading.
On 19th April 2018, Meesha Shafi accused Ali Zafar of sexual harassment. However, she was unable to produce witnesses or evidence in court to make an effective case. The case was, therefore, dismissed by the court and there was no ruling at all. This still leaves Meesha Shafi as not guilty since no verdict was announced. So, the FIA is overstepping its mandate by declaring Meesha Shafi as guilty, to say the least.
Consequently, Ali Zafar lodged a complaint in Pakistan’s cybercrime wing alleging that Meesha Shafi and supporters had launched a defamation campaign against him and that he was receiving threats on social media. He provided some evidence to support his claims. The defamation case is also pending in court and is yet to be taken to trial, which means that this still leaves Shafi not guilty, and once again, the Dawn headline is widely misleading the general public and FIA is overstepping its mandate. In response to Ali Zafar’s claims, Meesha Shafi’s legal team posted the following:
Statement on behalf of Meesha Shafi’s legal team #MeToo #Facts pic.twitter.com/jesJOpB15n
— Nighat Dad (@nighatdad) April 29, 2019
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