Pakistan: CFWIJ appalled by the lack of sensitivity displayed by Pakistani courts in Tenzeela Mazhar’s case

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September 24, 2021, Islamabad- The court refused to accommodate the medical concerns that Tenzeela Mazhar is facing. Tanzeela is currently pregnant and nursing a fractured foot. Upon request to not appear in one of her hearings due to its proximity with when her child is due, the judge told Tenzeela that he would issue her arrest warrant if he found her absent. Tenzeela is currently facing defamation charges in response to a harassment claim she filed against the Managing Director of Pakistan Television (PTV).

In January 2017, Tanzeela took to Twitter to publicly talk about an inquiry into a sexual harassment complaint she filed against her harasser Agha Masood Shorish –– director of current affairs at the state-owned news channel Pakistan Television (PTV), who made “unwelcome advances” at her in 2009. This was also the first time she spoke about her plight on a public platform, while she was still employed at the channel.

Shorish subsequently filed a defamation suit against Tanzeela. She has since been embroiled in an uphill battle against a legal system run and governed by men. The recent incident of insensitivity is only the latest in a series of exhausting bureaucratic demands of a  misogynistic system. Tanzeela took to Twitter again to relate the incident.

This pattern of violence against women was recognized by human rights groups and journalists alike who extended solidarity to Tenzeela.

The Coalition For Women In Journalism is appalled at the remarks of the judge in this case. The criminalization of defamation has led to defamation lawsuits being often used to silence survivors of sexual misconduct in Pakistan. This is a clear case of legal harassment and the justice system instead of providing relief is complicit in a misogynistic system. We demand that not only Tenzeela’s medical concerns be accomodated, those in power introspect on the patriarchy that the judicial system in Pakistan is entrenched in and perpetuating.