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Actor Feroze Khan’s legal troubles keep piling up as another set of celebrities have announced they will be taking legal action against him for sharing their personal mobile phone numbers online. On Tuesday, the actor announced that he has served defamation notices to people perpetuating “false and baseless allegations” against him with regards to the accusations by his former spouse Aliza Sultan of domestic abuse. He shared and soon after deleted a copy of what is assumed to be the notice online, however, that notice contained the mobile phone numbers and addresses of several celebrities.

Many of the stars mentioned in his legal notice decried their personal information being “leaked” and took to social media to call out the actor and announce that they will initiate legal action against him.

Khan’s deleted post carried contact information of celebrities Muneeb Butt, Aiman and Minal Khan, Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy, Mira Sethi, Sarwat Gilani, Yasir Hussain and Farhan Saeed, among others.

The first person mentioned in the notice to call Khan out on social media was Yasir Hussain, who shared messages sent to him from random numbers asking for money, acting roles or to be connected with other celebrities. He has since shared more conversations. “This brother sent his own number but I didn’t out him because I went to school and therefore you should be able to see the difference. Shame on you stupid man,” wrote Hussain in the first screenshot he shared.

Sarwat Gilani

The first star to announce legal action was Gilani who shared a picture of what appeared to be her mobile phone call log featuring over 100 missed calls from unknown numbers. She captioned her post, “It is bizarre and despicable that private information, including phone numbers, of various famous individuals has been publicly shared on the absurd pretext of issuing legal notice to them by Feroze Khan.”

She called these actions both “clearly illegal” and demonstrative of a “total lack of maturity to handle matters in a civilised way”.

“Two days ago Feroze Khan had one ex-wife and her lawyer now he will have to face 10 celebrities and their lawyers after him. Good luck!” Gilani wrote.

Minal Khan

Shortly after, Minal Khan wrote, “Yesterday my private information including my personal phone number was leaked on social media. It was an utterly shameful act which was carried out intentionally by Feroze Khan on the absurd pretext of issuing a legal notice.”

“Such actions are illegal - This being said I will be taking very strict legal action against Feroze khan for leaking my private information on social media along with multiple other famous individuals,” she wrote.

Mira Sethi

Sethi also took to her Instagram stories on Wednesday and re-shared Gilani’s post. “Echoing what Sarwat says here about leaked numbers. Unbelievable,” she wrote, adding that her lawyer will respond to the notice and that she will continue to stand by Khan’s former wife, Sultan.

Farhan Saeed

Saeed has filed a counter-suit against the Habs actor. In a copy shared with Images, the document dated January 18 reads that on the instructions of Suno Chanda actor, an instant reply has been sent to Khan and demands that he withdraw the notice against Saeed and “tender an unequivocal apology” in the same manner, on all platforms on which “defamatory material” against Saeed was published.

The document read that Khan’s legal document has been “unlawfully circulating” on social media platforms, WhatsApp groups and other virtual spaces without actually being served to Saeed as per the law.

“We make it abundantly clear to you that your notice is neither properly served nor procedurally correct. The address of our client mentioned on your notice is instead the address of a media house where our client is working. This has been deliberately done to malign our client at his professional workspace. Our client has taken strict notice of it. More so, the action of your client to divulge personal information of our client on public platforms are detestable in the eyes of law. The deliberate actions of your client tantamount to breach of privacy of our client and has exposed him to unwanted calls, harassment by unknown people and have caused him extreme annoyance,” read the notice.

It added that Saeed is contemplating lodging a criminal complaint against Khan for “doing such an inappropriate act”. He has warned that in case any harm comes to the ‘Sajni’ singer or other parties mentioned in the initial legal notice because of the breach of privacy, “the criminal and civil responsibility will be at the door step” of Khan.

The second part of the notice accused Khan of trying to “malign the respect and prestige” of Saeed in the eyes of his fans and public at large via his initial notice. “The contents of your notice make it abundantly clear that your client is going through some personal issue with his former spouse and is entangled in complex multiple litigation with no respite. Therefore, people who have no nexus whatsoever with personal affairs of your client have been made party to your notice including our client without any rhyme or reason. We wish to state that our client posses no interest whatsoever in personal affairs of your client. The personal affairs of your client are absolutely not worthy of professional time of our client,” stated Saeed’s notice.

It denied that Saeed ever posted, shared or stated anything inappropriate, defamatory or malicious against Khan, therefore putting the Aye Musht-e-Khaak actor through strict evidentiary test to prove the allegations levelled against Saeed. His document also reads that Khan’s notice has injured Saeed’s reputation and therefore he reserves the right to recover damages from Khan for causing him distress and anguish. It concluded with the demand that Khan must withdraw his notice and apologise via written and verbal apology within three working days otherwise Saeed has instructed his legal team to launch both civil and criminal action against Khan.

Muneeb Butt

The same night, Muneeb Butt took to Instagram and wrote, “Leaking my family’s personal details on your social media trying to play smart by uploading the notice of a law firm and deleting it. Whoever is suggesting this to you has thrown you into deep trouble my friend. I feel bad for you, now you will have to face all of this… Initially I thought it’s [a] stupid mistake and waited for 24 hours but no apology or excuse proved that it was a deliberate move. I thought you were better than that, seriously. Complaint registration/verification process has been completed [and] FIA Cyber Circle has initiated the inquiry. The process has started [and] you will have to taste your own medicine. Now wait for the call.”

In the third slide of his post, he shared a photo of the cyber complaint he filed against Khan for cyber stalking in which he expressed how distressed both he and his wife Aiman have been since their private details such as their mobile phone numbers and address were revealed by Khan.

Muneeb’s complaint also noted that his sister-in-law Minal was also mentioned in Khan’s legal notice. “Unknown numbers are calling my wife and unknown suspicious people are coming to my residence, which is [a] great security threat to me and my family. We need strict action against Feroze Khan,” read the complaint.

Sharing the same document on his Instagram story, Muneeb said that it would have been easy to mention Khan and his family’s personal details but he didn’t because “there’s a difference”. He said he still respects Khan’s family and won’t ever do that to them.

Aiman Khan

Butt’s wife Aiman also shared a statement on Instagram, saying, “Yesterday my private information including my personal phone number was leaked on social media. It was an utterly shameful act which was carried out intentionally by Feroze Khan on the absurd pretext of issuing a legal notice.”

She said his action caused her severe mental distress as she has been receiving hundreds of calls and messages. “My personal security has been breached and put at risk as I have been mentally harassed, tortured and threatened by multiple numbers. Me and my family’s lives have been put in danger,” she wrote in her caption. In the post, Aiman called it an “intentional act” to leak their personal details and said it is both “immature but bizarre and unethical”.

The Baandi actor said that she won’t take this matter lightly and will pursue legal action against Khan for the invasion of her privacy.

Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy

Filmmaker Chinoy who was also mentioned in the legal notice, took to her Instagram stories on Wednesday with a picture of what appears to be her call log and wrote, “Leaking personal information including phone numbers and addresses is a criminal offence FYI.”

In another Instagram story she said that she has 20 years of dealing with men “who are perpetrators of domestic violence” and knows “every play in the book”.

Osman Khalid Butt

Osman reshared Gilani’s Instagram post and wrote, “Here’s to always fighting the good fight, no matter the repercussions.” In another Instagram story he shared Minal’s post and said he doesn’t even have the words to describe the situation right now, calling the last two days a “nightmare”. “[I] can’t imagine what you - and all the female artists targeted - must be going through,” he wrote, directed at Minal.

The case

Sultan and Khan married in 2018 and share a son and a daughter together. They announced their intention to divorce in September and said they were in the middle of court proceedings discussing custody and visitation rights for their two children. Sultan had said she was physically and psychologically abused by her former partner during their marriage. Khan refused to comment at the time.

In October, Sultan shared emergency room records which marked “blunt injuries on both her arms, her back, chest and face” as well as photos of the bruises as evidence of abuse. Several members of the entertainment industry rallied behind her on social media. A day after Sultan’s allegations, Khan denied them and vowed to take legal action against the perpetrators of the “rumours”.

A Karachi family court is hearing two cases — one filed by Khan for custody of their two children and another filed by Sultan for maintenance money for the children. At the last hearing of the case in December, the court ordered the verification of evidence submitted by Sultan. The SHO of the Darakhshan police station and the medico-legal officer of the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre were directed to submit their reports in the case.