No love lost but I can't celebrate: Shabana Azmi on Kangana Ranaut slap row

Veteran actor Shabana Azmi reacted to the incident in which her fellow colleague and BJP's newly-elected MP Kangana Ranaut was allegedly slapped by a woman CISF constable at the Chandigarh airport. She said she had "no love lost" for Kangana Ranaut and that she could not join the "chorus" of those who were celebrating the incident.

"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 early on Saturday.

Shabana Azmi's reaction came as Kangana Ranaut is embroiled in a defamation case filed by Azmi's husband Javed Akhtar in 2020. In that case, Javed Akhtar alleged his reputation was tarnished when Kangana Ranaut made remarks about Sushant Singh Rajput's death in her interview with a news channel in 2020.

The following year, Kangana Ranaut filed a counter-complaint against Javed Akhtar, alleging insult to modesty.

ABOUT KANGANA RANAUT 'SLAP' INCIDENT

The incident occurred on Tuesday when the firebrand actor-turned-politician was undergoing a security check at the Chandigarh airport before taking a Vistara flight UK707 to Delhi.

Kangana Ranaut, who won in Himachal Pradesh's Mandi, claimed a constable approached her from the side and hit her in the face before beginning to hurl abuses at her. When she said she questioned the constable about the reason for the assault, the constable responded by saying she supported the 2020 farmers' protests.

In one of the many videos of the incident that went viral on social media, the accused woman constable, identified as Kulwinder Kaur, can be seen talking to people present at the airport, presumably after the attack. In the video, Kaur can be heard taking strong objection to Kangana Ranaut's controversial remarks during the farmers' protest.

"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 was heard saying in the viral video.

Kangana Ranaut courted controversy during the farmers' protests when she mistakenly identified an elderly woman at the protest as Bilkis Bano, a prominent figure from the Shaheen Bagh protests. The actor, in a now-deleted tweet, had claimed that the woman was "available for Rs 100" to participate in protests.

Kaur, the constable, was later suspended and taken into custody. An FIR was lodged against her and the CISF ordered a court of inquiry into the incident.