August 28, 2025
By Iqra Manzoor
LAHORE
Fashion designer Maria Butt, widely known as Maria B, appointed her counsel, Barrister Khadija Siddiqui, to represent her before the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) on August 26, Tuesday in connection with a case where she made remarks on social media against the transgender community yet again.
The NCCIA inquiry comes after a complaint filed by a transgender Naeem Butt also known as Seema Butt, who said that Maria B’s comments amounted to harmful anti-transgender rhetoric, causing emotional harm to the community. The designer, who has lately become known to pass hateful comments against not just the trans community but also women activists who participate in Aurat March – was summoned to appear before the NCCIA on August 26, with authorities cautioning that failure to comply would result in forfeiture of her right to defence.
Reportedly, Maria B has been summoned to appear before the agency on September 2nd in connection with the complaint.
Trigger for the case
The issue began after Maria B posted a video on her social media account, condemning a private transgender gathering in Lahore, referring to it as “un-Islamic” and urging provincial authorities to take ‘strict action’. Her social media posts, which included photos and videos of the gathering, prompted Lahore police last week to register a case against nearly 60 individuals from the transgender community in Karachi, as well as others, and subsequently arresting several attendees for allegedly organising the “objectionable” event.
The legal proceedings against the transgender community, however, were short-lived. A judicial magistrate dismissed all charges, ruling that no incriminating evidence connected the accused to the alleged offences.
Maria B’s response
On August 24, in another Instagram video, Maria B said she had not received any official notice from a government department.
“I haven’t received any official notice from a government department, making it premature to comment. A purported notice circulating on social media may be fabricated, as it’s concerning that contents of an official letter could be publicly disclosed before receipt. I’ll respond appropriately if and when I receive official communication.”
The designer reiterated her position, saying she remains “committed to discouraging activities that contradict Pakistan’s moral values.”
A different complaint
Meanwhile trans activist Shehzadi Rai, who is based in Karachi, has lodged a different complaint with the Cyber Crime Reporting Center.
“Since four years I have been facing many threats, following videos made by Maria B on her social media where she not only targets the trans community, but also uses my pictures and connects the community to Israel,” said Rai speaking to Voicepk. “I have even faced an acid attack, and now I have had enough. I want to her to get a legal notice, especially because she has been using my pictures and now my face is everywhere. Even sometimes strangers come up and lash out at me, saying you are an Israeli supporter. I want to make it very clear that I as an individual have protested against Israel from Karachi to the US, and I stand with Palestine. Despite this if my pictures are being misused and I am being accused of something I’m not doing then this can end up as being dangerous to me. I am very vulnerable because of this hate campaign.”
Rai’s complaint is based on the personal threats she has been facing because of Maria B’s irresponsible statements on social media, whereas the complaint about the transgender community has been lodged by Naeem aka Seema Butt.
‘Using religion as a tool’
Meanwhile Nayyab Ali, a trans-rights activist, and head of the Transgender Cell in the National Commission of Human Rights (NCHR), refuted Maria B’s claims, stating on X (formerly Twitter) that the individuals seen in the viral video were “not trans activists” and had “nothing to do with our movement.”
Ali further alleged that the clip was originally recorded at a private party and gained traction only after Maria B amplified it.
“If this is fahashi (vulgarity), then who was the one who spread it to millions? Maria B did. That’s a crime itself,” she said.
Artist and activist Leena Ghani strongly condemned Maria B’s remarks, calling them part of a “hate campaign against vulnerable communities.”
“Maria B has been propagating a hate campaign against vulnerable communities such as transgenders and queers,” she said. “She uses religion as a tool to propagate her narrative. She has no right to speak about trans community because she does not belong to the community. She makes a video about transgenders and their rights but does it all so confidently that people listen to her and follow her blindly.”
Ghani further criticised Maria B for “using her brand influence to sell narratives”.
“Maria B is a brand owner and she knows how to sell her brand,” she said. “In the same way, she knows how to sell her various narratives. The video of the event was a somewhat private video but Maria B made it public; she is the one who actually circulated it on social media platforms. Distribution matters. She wanted to shock people and while doing so, she sold her narrative exactly by shocking people, and she linked it to activists fighting for transgender rights.”
Despite previous transphobic remarks by Maria B, the trans community did not respond per se. However Ghani says this changed this time around.
“This time, the transgender activists took the case up and you know when someone is doing such things for so long, the person is bound to make a mistake, and this time Maria B did. She always gets away with such talk, but she should know that propagating hate has it consequences, especially against a community which is already marginalized.”
Not just this, Ghani says, Maria B also spread conspiracy theories.
“She does not even check facts – just calls it a ‘Zionist agenda’,” she says. “This is yet another piece of propaganda that she started in 2023. Are there no trans-persons in Gaza? Does she only campaign for straight people?”
She added that Maria B’s perception of the transgender community is rooted in stereotypes.
“Actually, the main problem is that people like Maria B have seen transgenders on traffic signals and roads and think that this is the extent of their lives,” says Leena. “But she cannot see that most transgender indivduals are working in every aspect of life and in diverse fields. She cannot see the community educated and growing. That is the reason she wants people to see her insulated point of view regarding the community.”
She compares Maria B to author J.K. Rowling, who has faced similar backlash for her transphobic views.
“Rowling has been called a TERF (Trans-Exclusionary Radical Feminist) for her exclusionary views, and Maria B is like that,” says Leena.
‘It is harassment’
Leading transgender activist, and the founder of the Gender Interactive Alliance (GIA), Bindiya Rana, also criticised Maria B’s actions, calling them ‘deliberate harassment’.
“Maria B is propagating harassment against the transgender community of Pakistan,” she says. “Transgenders are equal citizens of the country and Maria B’s remarks about the community lead to hate and violence against the community.” This is a serious problem because the community already suffers from violence and discrimination.
Rana explained that such irresponsible rhetoric disproportionately harms vulnerable members of the community.
“People like me won’t get affected by her remarks, but a transgender who is much lower down in the socio-economic ladder and has to stand at roadsides to ask for bread gets affected by such remarks going viral on social media. A person who is completely innocent is getting the bad end of the stick only because of her remarks.”
She condemned Maria B for linking trans people to foreign conspiracies:
“Linking a khwaja sirah or a transgender to the Israeli agenda is torture for transgenders in Pakistan. Maria B is playing the role of a snake in society against transgenders. If she cannot support the community, she should not be spitting hate against us.”
A history of transphobia
Maria B also sparked controversy for her comments about the transgender community. Recently, she welcomed the ban on the screening of Joyland in Lahore, branding it a “shameful transgender satanic show.” Joyland was Pakistan’s official entry for the 2023 Academy Awards, and has been regarded as a sensitive story.
Rights activists have been condemning Maria B’s statements since some time now, arguing that such rhetoric fuels discrimination against an already marginalised community. Legal experts note that Section 20 of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA) prohibits online content that harms reputation or causes distress, a provision likely to play a role in the ongoing NCCIA inquiry.