Fashion designer Maria B, as she is commonly known appointed her attorney, Barrister Khadija Siddiqui to represent her before the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) on Tuesday on allegations of making anti-transgender statements on social media. Siddiqui said they have been requested a copy of the complaint, but the same has not been forthcoming yet. Maria B was summoned after a case was filed by Saima Butt on allegedly defaming the transgender community on the net.
Siddiqui stated that the agency would pose some questions to which they will formally respond. Maria B has been summoned to appear on September 2. Later she switched claims to say that she had not yet received an official notice and would clarify her stand once she did.
The notice, which was issued on the last Friday, was not specific on the posts under scrutiny. But earlier this month Maria B posted videos requesting obstructive measures towards the transgender activists and attacked assemblies she claimed were against the moral values of the nation. Police in Lahore registered about 60 transgender people on the charges of holding an objectionable party in a bar after Maria B published photos and videos. The case was dismissed by a magistrate as they lacked evidence.
Read more: Top Three Controversies Surrounding Maria B
Maria B said in an Instagram video on Sunday she would not be silenced and said any notice being circulated could be a fake. She reiterated her determination to promote awareness and deter such practices in Pakistan. This is not the only instance Maria B has transphobic comments as earlier on, she criticized the screening of the film Joyland terming it as a “transgender satanic club.”
