Dawn Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Hameed Haroon on Wednesday filed a case in the Sindh High Court (SHC) against filmmaker Jamshed Mahmood, popularly known as Jami, for making “defamatory statements” against him.
Last year in October, Jami came forward with the accusation that he was raped by a “media tycoon” 13 years ago and on December 28, named Dawn’s CEO as his alleged rapist. In response, Haroon had issued a statement categorically rejecting the rape accusations, saying he would initiate legal action.
Earlier this month, Haroon sent a legal notice to the director under Section 8 of the Defamation Ordinance 2002, asking for an unconditional public apology and retraction of rape allegations. In response, the filmmaker had called for the withdrawal of Haroon’s legal notice within a week.
Haroon, in his petition filed today, detailed the accusations levelled by Jami and urged the court to “perpetually restrain [the filmmaker], through himself or by instigating others, from making […] defamatory statements” against the Dawn CEO.
The petitioner also asked the court to direct Jami to “permanently remove/delete the defamatory statements” from his Twitter account. Furthermore, Haroon demanded that Jami pays Rs1 billion “to be disbursed to any charitable organisation or for any noble cause (including the freedom of the press) that the court deems appropriate”.
Haroon said that Jami’s allegations came at a time when protests against Dawn were being carried out. The petition insisted that “Dawn was specifically being targeted by the defendant (Jami)” and that the filmmaker had not provided “even an iota of proof”.
