A day after Delhi court had ordered the makers of controversial Bollywood movie ‘Chhapaak’ to give due credit to the original victim’s lawyer Aparna Bhat, the Fox Studios and director of the movie Meghna Gulzar have filed an appeal in the Delhi High Court challenging the lower court order.
Aparna Bhat who represented the acid attack victim Laxmi Agarwal in her criminal trial in the Patiala House Court had filed a plea seeking a stay on ‘Chhapaak’ just before the release of the film.
She had posted a message on Facebook saying that while she was the lawyer who represented Laxmi in her arduous legal fight, she has been given no credit in the movie Chhapaak. She had said that she was ‘deeply disturbed post watching the film’ as the makers have not mentioned her name in the film.
After hearing lawyer Aparna Bhat’s plea, the Patiala House Court in Delhi on Thursday had ordered Chhapaak director Meghna Gulzaar to give due credit to the lawyer in the movie.
The court order had stated that it has found the claims of the lawyer valid and had ordered the director Meghana Gulzaar to include a slide of actual footage and images in the movie’s credits, declaring “Aparna Bhat continues to fight cases of physical and sexual violence against women” along with a rider that the same is through court orders.
The order mentioned that if the screening of the film without the actual footages and images are screened without credit to Aparna Bhat will be a grave injustice and will be akin to preventing the public from knowing about Bhat’s contribution and her efforts.
The Deepika Padukone starrer Bollywood movie “Chhapaak” has found itself surrounded in controversy after Bollywood entertainer Deepika Padukone made a PR stunt on Wednesday by visiting JNU campus to promote her new movie. Deepika Padukone had stood in support of left-wing students who had unleashed violence on students who were registering for the winter semester and took over the server room and made it dysfunctional.
Read: Delhi court orders Meghna Gulzar to give due credit to victim’s lawyer in Chhapaak: Read details
Padukone, to show her solidarity with the students, had chosen to meet accused Aishe Ghosh and her friends while ignoring the real victims who were beaten up by the leftist goons during the registration process.
