Notorious Bigg Boss Season 3 participant Kamaal R Khan alleges he was abused by Marathi immigration officials at the Mumbai airport, as the ire against Khans has increased with SRK refusing to apologise for having backed Pakistani players.
He didn’t know he was a Deshdrohi till he landed at the Mumbai airport on Sunday night. Actor-writer-producer Kamaal R Khan alleges that the immigration officials at the airport, “ninety nine per cent of whom are Marathis”, abused and even manhandled him before setting him free at 4.30 on Monday morning.
As the story goes, Kamaal, who was returning from Dubai, was asked by the immigration officials why his passport mentions a UP address. Having clarified that he’s from that state and the passport also having being issued from there, the officials advised him to either access the Delhi or the UP airport. “First, I was told I have written Hullas instead of Phullas, where I belong. When I volunteered to fill up another form with the correct name, I was questioned on the pincode, which I didn’t know. I was honest enough to admit my ignorance as I haven’t been to my village for the past 20 years. But I was told it’s better if I go back to UP as I’m not from Maharashtra.”
Meanwhile, alleges Kamaal, two-three other officials gathered around him and even roughed him up for having made Deshdrohi, which had garnered some publicity in the wake of the 2008 attacks on North Indians in Maharashtra which had coincided with the film’s release. “Issko do thappad marke jail mein daal aur drugs ka case daal de,” one of them had said. So, how did he wriggle his way out? “Maine bola aap yeh kar sakte hain, toh karke dikhaiye. I was shoved and provoked. But I kept my cool. It was only after the intervention by senior officials that I was set free,” he relives the experience.
And much like Bollywood Badshah SRK being detained for two hours at the Newark airport in August 2009, for what was thought, his surname, Khan, this incident too smacks of the same — racial profiling. To this, Kamaal says, “I think the Marathis are angry with all the Khans since SRK refused to apologise for his comments backing Pakistani cricketers after the IPL auction in January.”
But wasn’t it obvious to have registered a police complaint, the dearth of which is bound to leave enough room for the incident being stamped a publicity stunt? To this Kamaal says apologetically, “I came home and after catching a few hours’ sleep, called up my lawyer. The first thing he asked me was the names of the miscreants, which I didn’t have on me. It’s a huge mistake on my part. But my lawyer will soon be shooting off a letter to Home Minister Praful Patel and CM Ashok Chavan. Hope people understand this isn’t a gimmick after all,” he signs off.
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