After a video showing an alleged altercation between models Hasnain Lehri and Nirma Jacob at the Texpo Fashion Week went viral on Saturday, Lehri has come up with a response.
In the video, the female super model can be seen distraught after Lehri allegedly physically and verbally assaulted her, demanding that event organisers take her safety seriously.
Several models and influential designers like Kamiar Rokni, Eman Suleman and Zara Peerzada have taken to social media to condemn the incident, and demanded that the abuser be held accountable for his actions.
Now in a statement to Express Tribune, Lehri has denied that he physically assaulted Jacob:
“I categorically deny all accusations of physical altercation and abuse. I come from a very respectful family, we aren’t the kind of people who would get into an issue as petty as this.”
He went on to explain how the events had unfolded, which began when Jacob bumped in to him during the ramp walk:
“During the crossing at the ramp, Jacob hit my shoulder. We went backstage and she walked towards me, asking me to learn how to walk on the ramp. This resulted in an argument and she brought my deceased father into the conversation.”
He added that there were witnesses like organisers Tehmina Khaled, Tehmim and choreographer Nubain Ali, to whom Lehri had gone to raising concern, and they had told Lehri that Jacob was known for her unprofessional behavior with other models.
Lehri revealed how the fight had started `”When the show was done, I packed my bag, readying to leave; Nubain approached me and asked me what the issue was. As Nubain and I were discussing, this is when [Jacob] returned and started the argument again,” Lehri went on. “She then told me to f–k off, and I said it back. That’s when she took out her phone and started recording me.”
Lehri went on to reveal that he asked Jacob four times not to record her, after which he had snatched the phone from her hands:
“This isn’t acceptable and I took her phone. That is all I did. I took the phone from her hand and kept it with me because she was recording me without my consent. She just wanted to show her side of the story. I wish I had taken out my phone and started recording how [Jacob] was misbehaving as well.”
Lehri denied that he had raised his hand on Jacob, and said Jacob and her friends were trying to intimidate him:
“With God as my witness, I can swear on the Holy Book that all I did was take her phone. I didn’t assault anyone, I didn’t physically abuse her. [Jacob’s] three friends teamed up against me. They will support her.”
Addressing the fact that he refused to give back Jacob’s phone, and the arrival of the police, Lehri revealed that the police could see that he didn’t assault the female model, which is why they had let him go:
“If I was in the wrong and the alleged physical assault did happen, why would the police let me leave? I was free to go. I respect my fraternity but [Jacob] is grossly manipulating the whole situation.”
