A complicated pregnancy did not deter a judge from pestering veteran journalist Tanzeela Mazhar to appear in court in connection with an ongoing defamation case brought forth by her alleged harasser in 2017.
In a series of tweets, Mazhar said that defamation cases were used discriminatorily against harassment victims after a judge ordered her to procure detailed evidence that she was pregnant and had a fractured foot due to which she would not appear for her court hearing. Mazhar exasperated that the judge was not satisfied with the evidence that clearly stated her due date as well and instead warned he would issue an arrest warrant if she was a no show. Mazhar added that she would not be bogged down by the ‘rotten system’ and would continue to fight till truth prevailed.
Defamation cases are used to punish victims of harassment. I was unable to appear before court due to complicated pregnancy. Judge sahib asked for multiple medical certificates, I had no clue how he wanted to decide; a pregnancy is a medical condition or not, during that time 1/4
— Tanzeela Mazhar (@TenzilaMazhar) September 24, 2021
My foot got fractured as well I sent that report also to court but still judge sahib was not satisfied. My due date of delivery was clearly mentioned bt judge sahib said If I won't appear in person he will issue arrest warrants. Is this how courts deal with a pragnant woman 2/3
— Tanzeela Mazhar (@TenzilaMazhar) September 24, 2021
I won't let this system punish me . This system is rotten, victims are made vulnerable, but I am not giving up on this fight… I know truth will prevail insha'Allah. #MeToo 3/3
— Tanzeela Mazhar (@TenzilaMazhar) September 24, 2021
Since 2017, Mazhar has been involved in a defamation case, which was brought forth by her alleged harasser and colleague at Pakistan Television Network (PTV). The defamation case was slapped onto Mazhar after the anchor publicly came forward in 2017 against her alleged harasser, who she said made ‘unwelcome advances’ towards her in 2009.
Mazhar revealing her frustrations with the justice system when it came to harassment, wasn’t new. In 2017, she detailed her disappointment on Twitter about at an internal PTV inquiry committee that asked why she hadn’t quit when she was first harassed. Mazhar resigned a month after the committee dismissed her complaint.
In an inquiry on my complaint of harrassement against masood shorish,PTV comittrmee asked y didnt you leave job if u were harrassed?
— Tanzeela Mazhar (@TenzilaMazhar) January 18, 2017
Later in February 2020, Mazhar tweeted that the results of the 2017 committee were not formally shared with her till 2019. She added that she had challenged the report in front of the Federal Ombudsman Secretariat for Protection against Harassment.
Today I appeared in Ombudsperson against Harassment of women at workplaces to argue on my right to challenge PTV inquiry report which was never conducted fairly, was never completed in due course of time & was never shared with us till July 2019.#HarassmentAtWorkPlace #MeToo
1/3— Tanzeela Mazhar (@TenzilaMazhar) February 6, 2020
The deployment of defamation cases against possible harassment victims is not novel to Mazhar’s case. As several women came forward in Pakistan’s iteration of the international Me-Too movement and brought forth harassment complaints against their aggressors, a counter movement in the form of defamation cases also rose in Pakistan’s courts.
Singer Meesha Shafi and artist Leena Ghani are just two high profile examples of women involved in defamation cases after they came forward against their accused harasser, singer Ali Zafar in 2018.
