Saif Ali Khan faced risk of losing Padma Shri Award

Fourth-highest civilian honour could have been revoked over a scuffle the actor was involved in.

Actor Saif Ali Khan seems to be on a streak of bad luck. After his latest release Humshakals bombed at the box office, controversy surrounds his Padma Shri Award, against which, a petition has been filed by Right to Information Act activist SC Agrawal, reported the Times of India.

Tensions escalated after the Government of India decided to examine the complaint that calls for the actor to be stripped off the fourth-highest civilian honour, which he received in 2010. This follows a Mumbai court framing charges against the actor for assaulting a Non-resident Indian businessman and his father-in-law at a restaurant.

When asked to comment on this, Saif quipped, “Are they rethinking my Padma Shri because I did Humshakals?,” solemnly adding, “I agree that a punch up is not what we expect from a Padma Shri, but to take away the honour without proving it is a bit extreme. Let the court decide who is to blame first.”

The government has put an end to the conjecture by clarifying that the award will not be taken back from him. “It would be unfair to strip a person with outstanding achievement in a field just because he is convicted in a case relating to a minor scuffle,” said a home minister official, the Deccan Chronicle reported.

Saif’s wife, actor Kareena Kapoor Khan, further solidified the news by sharing that the government has sent a letter stating that they are not taking back the award. “Government has already issued a letter saying they are not taking his Padma Shri back,” she said. “The letter is out and the media should have received it by now,” she added, reported IANS.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 11^th, 2014.

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