Actor Ushna Shah has been in hot waters in the past few days after she shared a picture of herself with controversial actor Feroze Khan at a gym on Instagram. She quoted a hadith that called for Ramzan to be a month of mercy and forgiveness. In her next post, she recalled the death of controversial televangelist Amir Liaqat, and asked her followers not to pass quick judgement that could lead to people committing irreversible acts.
Feroze Khan has been accused of domestic violence and neglect by his former wife Aliza Sultan. The two divorced in 2022, after multiple celebrities including Oscar winning filmmaker Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, and actor Sarwat Gilani rallied behind her.
In November, Feroze Khan was criticized for leaking the personal phone numbers and home addresses of ten celebrities -including Mira Sethi, Osman Khalid Butt and Yasir Hussain- who had declared that they would take action by suing Khan for emotional and mental trauma.
On Saturday, Shah once more defended her stance by sharing a detailed statement on Twitter, where she called herself a “human sympathizer” rather than an “abuser sympathizer”.
Shah went on to reveal that as someone who became the target of unfair bullying, like the backlash to her Indian lehnga that Shah wore on her Mehndi, she didn’t think that social media users should abuse a person and their families for something they “allegedly did”.
“The backlash at my choice to wear the supposed ‘Indian style lehnga’ and dance at my own wedding, was prime example. So when hundreds and thousands of people abuse a person for whatever they allegedly did and abuse their families relentlessly, day and night, non-stop, I know what that can do and it isn’t fair punishment.”
Shah’s statement has received extensive backlash on social media for refusing to recognize how problematic her stance to support Khan is, and for being an abuse apologist.
One Twitter user wrote:
“Sympathizing with a human who is an alleged abuser/involved in domestic violence is basically being an abuser apologist. “even if the alleged criminal was found guilty” so u r telling me that a guilty criminal shouldnt have to face the consequences. also what even’s w the lehnaga.”
“Pakistani celebrities are hypocrites,” another user wrote.
“Why is it always ”let’s forgive abuser Muslim m3n because it’s Ramzan”, that man has literally brutalized his wife, you are not only a domestic violence apologist but a traitor to your own women class, using your privilege to disregard the voices of numerous DV women victims,” another user wrote.
