Ex-Burnley mayor Shah Hussain guilty of using abusive word

Shah Hussain, 54, appeared for trial at Preston Magistrates' Court on Tuesday (August 18), having denied the offence at a previous hearing in February.

The court found Hussain, of Croasdale Avenue, Burnley, guilty of calling fellow councillor Lubna Khan, an independent councillor for the Bank Hall ward in Burnley, a 'pudi' - a Punjabi word referring to female genitalia.

Hussain was the Mayor of Burnley for the 2024/25 municipal year and is a Burnley Independent Group councillor for the Daneshouse with Stoneyholme ward, though he is currently suspended due to these proceedings.

Cllr Hussain was the Mayor of Burnley for the 2024/25 municipal year (Image: Archive)

Magistrates said he did this with the intention to cause harassment, alarm, or distress to Ms Khan, something which Hussain denied throughout the trial.

Lyndsey Vinden, prosecuting, said a number of councillors attended a political event for Your Party, a political party founded by former Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn along with former Labour MP Zarah Sultana, at Cardinal Newman College in Preston on August 30 last year.

After a public event downstairs at the venue, a private Q&A session was held upstairs for councillors only, during which Mr Corbyn posed for a photograph with the female councillors in attendance underneath a banner displaying the Your Party name.

Hussain was volunteering for the party at the event, and took a photograph on his personal mobile phone as part of that role, saying his intention was to post it on a Your Party Facebook page relating to Burnley and the surrounding areas, which he had created.

Cllr Lubna Khan (Image: Burnley Council)

Ms Vinden said Ms Khan approached the defendant and asked him not to post the photo on social media, with Ms Khan later telling the court it was because she was not sure yet whether she wanted to be affiliated with the fledgling party.

The prosecution said it was at this point Hussain used the offensive word, directing it at Ms Khan while the councillors were trying to leave the venue.

Hussain, giving evidence, denied using the word, insisting he had instead said "bloody hell" and that Ms Khan had simply misheard what was said.

Ms Khan said she was "absolutely in shock" when she heard Hussain use the word, and questioned him numerous times, saying, "Shah, did you just swear at me?"

She said it was said angrily, and that she was in "disbelief."

Preston Magistrates' Court (Image: Anthony Moss)

Yvonne Tennant, a Pendle councillor for the Marsden and Southfield ward in Nelson, told the court she was close to Hussain and Ms Khan as they were trying to leave the venue, and she overheard the conversation about the photograph.

She said she heard Hussain call Ms Khan that word and that she got "really upset".

Ms Tennant said she did not speak Punjabi but "knew the odd word" from her time working in schools with a high percentage of Punjabi speakers.

Sehrish Lone, another independent councillor for Burnley's Bank Hall ward, said she heard Hussain use the word towards Ms Khan and that two other councillors held Ms Khan by the arms and escorted her away afterwards.

She told the court that while her language is Urdu, her mother speaks Punjabi, so she has some understanding of it.

All three witnesses were questioned by defence barrister Bradley Mather on whether they could have misheard what Hussain said, suggesting he had actually said "bloody hell."

Giving evidence, Hussain maintained this is what he had said, and told the court his mother tongue is Bengali and that it is "totally different" from Punjabi.

He said there had been a "smear campaign" against him and political disagreements within the independent group following their departure from the Labour Party in the wake of the Hamas terrorist attacks in Israel on October 7, 2023, and subsequent war, and the party leadership's supposed stance on the matter.

Hussain told the court Ms Khan had approached him in an "aggressive manner" asking not to put the picture on Facebook, and assured her he would not before "using his hands to calm her down."

He said he thought he had heard Ms Khan say, "Shah, you're being a c**t," at which point he said he replied "bloody hell," and walked off.

When asked if he accepted that this may not have been the word used, he said, "maybe it could have been something else."

Hussain said it was not a word he had used in the past and that he did not previously know the meaning of it.

After retiring to consider their verdict, the magistrates returned and found Hussain guilty of the single count.

Chair Martin Walmsley said they accepted the evidence of the three prosecution witnesses and found Hussain's evidence to be "less credible."

They found he did use the word "pudi," that it had caused Ms Khan distress, and that he had intended for this to happen.

He was ordered to pay £1,899, made up of a £892 fine, a £357 victim surcharge, and £650 costs, to be paid at £50 a month.

The Lancashire Telegraph has contacted Burnley Council for an update regarding Hussain's suspension from his councillor role.