‘I have no love lost for Kangana Ranaut, but I can’t..’ Shabana Azmi speaks out about slapping incident

Kangana Ranaut slap-gate: Veteran actor Shabana Azmi has spoken out about the incident involving her fellow actor and BJP’s newly elected MP Kangana Ranaut, who was allegedly slapped and abused by a woman CISF constable at the Chandigarh airport recently. Despite her strained relationship with Kangana Ranaut, Shabana Azmi condemned the actions of the security personnel, stressing the importance of law and order.

I have no love lost for #Kangana Ranaut. But I can't find myself joining this chorus of celebrating "the slap". If security personnel start taking law into their hands none of us can be safe .

— Azmi Shabana (@AzmiShabana) June 7, 2024

“I have no love lost for Kangana Ranaut. But I can’t find myself joining this chorus of celebrating ‘the slap’. If security personnel start taking the law into their hands, none of us can be safe,” she tweeted on Saturday morning. This reaction comes amid ongoing legal disputes between Kangana and Azmi’s husband, Javed Akhtar. Akhtar filed a defamation case against Kangana in 2020 after she made comments linking his reputation to the death of Sushant Singh Rajput. In response, Kangana filed a counter-complaint in 2021, accusing Akhtar of insulting her modesty.

Kangana Ranaut slap-gate incident was reported during a security check at the Chandigarh airport before boarding Vistara flight UK707 to Delhi. Kangana, who recently won the election in Himachal Pradesh’s Mandi, claimed that a constable approached her, slapped her, and then verbally abused her. Upon questioning the reason for the assault, the constable allegedly stated her support for the 2020 farmers’ protests.

The incident quickly went viral on social media, with numerous videos capturing the aftermath. The accused constable, identified as Kulwinder Kaur, can be seen speaking to onlookers in one such video. Kaur vehemently opposed Kangana’s previous controversial statements about the farmers’ protests. “Kangana made a statement that farmers were protesting in Delhi because they were paid Rs 100 or Rs 200. At the time, my mother was one of the protesters,” Kaur is heard saying in the video.

During the farmers’ protests, Kangana had sparked controversy by misidentifying an elderly woman protester as Bilkis Bano, a prominent figure from the Shaheen Bagh protests. In a now-deleted tweet, she claimed the woman was “available for Rs 100” to participate in protests.

Following the incident, Kaur was suspended and taken into custody. An FIR was filed against her, and the CISF has ordered a court of inquiry into the matter.