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Qissa Meherbano Ka kickstarted a conversation about marital rape but its depiction of the heinous act made it seem like the drama was condoning rather than condemning it. The stars of the show Mawra Hocane and Ahsan Khan spoke about the confusion and now that there's one episode to go, Hocane addressed the matter once again. She called the show an attempt at starting a conversation on marital rape and a baby step towards a solution.

“Mohabbat aur Nikah k naam pe kiya janay wala Zulm bhi Zulm He hota hai… [Oppression in the name of love and marriage is also oppression]. While marital rape is a shameful and derogatory crime violating women since time immemorial, it is still widely disregarded as a criminalised offence and more commonly labelled as disobedience on a woman’s part. Absurd," Hocane captioned a post on Instagram.

The actor talked about how prevalent marital rape is under the guise of 'love'. "It’s 2022 and men like Murad freely exist in all spheres of life who not only rape their wives but to make it worse also fail to acknowledge it and mock it. In the garb of love & duty, countless women are raped all across the world."

She explained that the drama was trying to address the issue and raise awareness about it. "Qissa Meherbano Ka was our humble attempt to start a conversation around this heinous act. It was heartbreaking to perform but my heart is full at the response and acceptance we have received," she wrote.

"As the last episode airs on [this] coming Saturday we hope to have taken a baby step towards a solution that may take us many many more such initiatives."

After public backlash when a marital rape scene first aired in the drama, Hocane spoke about her character's justification for the rape and said those were the sarcastic words of a traumatised woman. "It takes a lifetime for women to see the light at the end of the tunnel," she said, calling the drama their "humble attempt to give a resolution while being practical and not take the dramatic licence and turn the woman into a hero overnight."

She also addressed why her character is still in the abusive relationship and said, “change doesn’t come overnight”. "We have to show a practical resolution, most women live with this reality for their entire lives, we shall InshaAllah attempt to give a solution for that.”

For Khan, Qissa Meherbano Ka does not intend to glorify marital rape through Murad's (Khan) actions towards Meherbano (Hocane), however, it does intend to talk about a social issue that not many recognise as a legitimate cause for concern.

"I know marital rape is a very tricky thing to discuss because most people do not understand it," Khan previously told Images. "However, if you get into the details [of the issue], you'll see it is an unfortunate experience that many people go through and they can't say a word against it most of the time."

He went on to define what a marriage should be. "We have to understand that marriage is a union of love, respect and regard between two people and if that doesn't exist between two people then this is a serious problem in the relationship."