Actor Arslan Butt shared a copy of a legal notice purportedly sent to fellow actor Mamya Shajaffar over an interview in which she described a costar’s behaviour while working on a project with her as having made her feel “uncomfortable”.
The notice referenced Shajaffar’s appearance on the YouTube show Say It All with Iffat Omar and claimed that she accused Butt of having “sexually harassed [her] on set”. Shajaffar has not publicly commented on the notice, and in the interview, she referred to the person solely as “Arsalan”. She later clarified on social media that she was not talking about Arslan Khan, her College Gate costar.
Butt’s connection to the incident is being attributed to Omar, the host, who purportedly said he was the one being discussed.
Shajaffar’s interview with Omar was released on May 21. In it, the actor mentioned a number of instances in which “Arsalan’s” behaviour made her “feel uncomfortable” and that he believed she was “someone to get fresh or frank with”.
Shajaffar recalled an incident where she was discussing Manto’s feminism with the project’s writer when “Arsalan” entered the discussion, claiming Manto was not a feminist and women “hated him”. Upon being rebuked by Shajaffar, he began “shaking his belt as if he wanted to take it off and hit me with it”. She said he also “started calling me names”.
The notice described the allegations made by Shajaffar against “Arsalan” as “false, baseless, malicious and defamatory” and said they had caused “serious reputational damage, mental distress, humiliation and public embarrassment” to Butt.
The notice demanded Shajaffar “retract the allegations”, “take steps for the removal of the defamatory content”, “issue a clear, unconditional public apology and retraction” on YouTube and “refrain from repeating such allegations in the future”.
In the event that she does not comply within 14 days, the notice said Butt’s legal team would “initiate civil defamation proceedings, criminal proceedings and all other remedies available under Pakistani law”.
In the interview, Shajaffar also claimed “Arsalan” made inappropriate comments about her body. “He was like, ‘Listen, you should really eat this and eat that. That will give you some weight here and there.’”
The actor said she told her co-star to “shut the f*** up”, which she said he did not take well.
She also mentioned an incident in which the director had told her and “Arsalan” to work together and he approached her for a hug. Shajaffar said she told him to not touch her four times while backing away and when he didn’t listen, she screamed at him.
This, the Lali actor said, caused him to resort to his own stream of expletives. “He lost his mind because I didn’t allow him to touch me without my permission. I don’t know how I had the guts, I was shaking, but I was like, ‘no means no’.”