Sana Javed calls out 'planned smear campaign', sends legal notice to Manal Saleem, among others
Actor Sana Javed is taking legal action against her peers for “engineering a propaganda” to allegedly gain publicity from maligning her image and making “slanderous comments” against her on social media.
The past three days have seen numerous members of the fashion fraternity come forward with their “horrible” experiences of working with or alongside Javed and feeling “disrespected” in the process. Allegations of misbehaviour and abuse of power were levied against the Khaani star, who has finally come forward with her own version of one of the events, presented in her legal notice. With her social media post, Javed has also denied all claims of misbehaviour and sent a warning to those propagating a “smear campaign” against her.
Javed’s social media response
Taking to her Instagram on March 11, the actor addressed all allegations with photos of legal notices addressed to model Manal Saleem, stylists Omayr Waqar and Aneela Murtaza, alongside a detailed caption. “In the past 72 hours, I’ve been subjected to all sorts of lies and fabricated stories, bullying, hate speech, and threats. A proper planned smear campaign has been initiated against me by a group of individuals,” wrote the Aye Musht-e-Khaak actor.
“It has caused severe trauma not only to me but to my family,” Javed went on, adding, “I’m shocked to see how toxic people can be and how quickly everyone jumps on a bandwagon without knowing all the facts.” She went on to allege that the incident concerned is “beyond disgusting and disgraceful to even mention,” which is why she would prefer maintaining her silence. “As far as the incident is concerned everyone knows one side of the story and I refuse to comment and discuss what was said and done by the other party.”
Javed asserted that she has decided to take the matter forward legally with the help of relevant authorities. “I love my work and hold it in the highest regards and throughout my career I've tried my best to hold my ground and my integrity by giving utmost respect to my colleagues and peers and expected the same in return. Saying that, now this matter is with the legal authorities and I will be pursuing all legal options against this group of people.”
She thanked all friends and fans who stood by her without believing the “fabricated” stories. “You are my strength and we will see this through. May the truth prevail. Aameen,” she concluded.
Javed’s legal response
Javed’s legal notice addressed to model Manal Saleem, who was the first to put up an Instagram Story to complain about an “entitled” celebrity, states: “Our client [Sana Javed], upon invitation of a famous brand and in her professional capacity, was in attendance on sets of brand launch in Gulberg Town Lahore on March 7, 2022. As lead model, she was given a green room or vanity room as practice in vogue, which is exclusively for the use of one individual. You barged into our client’s vanity room, and started using the same instead of the one provided to you by the brand.”
It goes on to claim that “it is at that point, our client first met you and did not object at all, notwithstanding your unauthorised presence in the said room, you would appreciate was clearly in breach of the settled practice. Aside from the above, you started creating ruckus and giving instructions to our client’s makeup artist instead of using your own makeup artist provided by the brand, so much so, that our client’s makeup artist had to leave her to attend to you, which was not objected to but rather graciously permitted.”
According to the notice, Javed had a separate shoot on the same set as Saleem’s and at no point were the two shot together. However, “after the shoot, you in collusion with a few others posted on Instagram, falsely accusing our client through innuendos, as though she referred to you as ‘dou takay ki model’. When in fact, at no point did my client have any conversation with you, let alone the one fabricated by you, which is nothing but a figment of your imagination,” the notice added.
It went on to assert that the “insinuations” made by Saleem, are “nothing but an attempt to achieve publicity at the cost of our client’s reputation.” It went on to note that Javed has 6.8 million followers on Instagram while Saleem, only had around 30,000 followers prior to “accusing” Javed, and “immediately after the defamatory publication, a sudden increase of over 6000 followers was observed,” on her account.
Through the notice, Javed’s legal team then called upon Saleem to retract her statement and circulation immediately, and “tender an unconditional public apology in the same manner as it was posted within 14 days, and refrain from any further defamation.” The notice also stated that Saleem is liable to pay Rs100 million “as damages for the loss and damage to our client’s reputation, mental agony, torture and suffering.”
The legal notices to Waqar and Murtaza maintain that the two “in collusion” with Saleem, falsely accused Javed through “innuendos”. Further details were not part of the post shared.
Saleem’s initial Instagram story, assumed to have been referring to Javed, read, “Requesting all clients to not ask me to shoot with any actress or celebrity ever again. With their self-entitled attitudes, they think we are ‘dou takay ki model’. The audacity to say that on my face! Hum bhi kaam karne aatay hain, muft men zaleel honay nahi aatay (We also come to work, not to get disrespected for free).”
While Saleem herself refrained from naming anyone, she gave a thumbs up to speculations about the person in question. Seeing her fellow models speak up, model Fareeha Sheikh also mustered up the courage to pen down her alleged encounter and name Javed. Makeup artist Ikram Gohar went on to upload an entire post dedicated to his experience with Javed, while fellow makeup artist Rhyan Thomas followed suit.
The Express Tribune also reached out to Sana Javed for a comment on the same, however, the actor was not immediately available for a response.
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