YouTubeThe Indian singing competition Raw Star took a turn for the nightmarish for the show's host last night.
Host Gauahar Khan was allegedly slapped during Sunday's taping of the show's season finale at Mumbai's Film City in Goregaon by a 24-year-old man who didn't approve of her short dress, police told the Hindustan Times. A local newscast showed footage of a shocked and upset-looking Khan with a hand to her face, though no contact was caught on camera.
Aarey Sub police told the paper that suspect Akil Malik had said that he didn't think that he didn't like how Khan was wearing a short skirt and dancing to supposedly racy music.
Malik was detained and a police spokesman stated that they would "record Khan's statement in detail" and "register a case under section 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) and 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty) of Indian Penal Code and will arrest the accused youth."
According to India's English-language Headlines Today, Malik was heckling Khan from the audience and they exchanged words before he allegedly slapped her. Security reportedly pinned him down and handed him over to authorities. Khan was said to be very upset after the incident but the production team helped calm her down.
"It was chaos after the security pulled the man away," a source told the Hindustan Times. "Gauahar was shocked and was crying a lot. A stunned Gauahar didn't understand what happened. Though the shooting was stopped, Gauahar took a break of an hour to gather her bearings and then reported back on stage to finish the leftover one-hour shoot."
Khan, an actress and reality-TV star who won her country's Bigg Boss 7 last year, was named Best Supporting Actress for her role in the 2012 film Ishaqzaade at the Renault Star Guild Awards.