Delhi Court directs Chhapaak filmmakers to give due credit to Laxmi's lawyer Aparna Bhat

A Delhi Court today ordered the makers of the film 'Chhapaak' to include the name of acid attack survivor, Laxmi Agarwal's lawyer, Aparna Bhat, in acknowledgments during the screening of the film.

A Delhi Court presided over by Additional Senior Civil Judge Dr Pankaj Sharma ordered,

The order was passed by the Court in a plea by Aparna Bhat seeking due credits in the making of the firm. She has also sought to restrain the public release of the film on January 10.

The Court today also issued summons to Director Meghna Gulzar, KA Productions and Fox Studios in Bhat's plea.

It was Bhat's case that she had given all possible assistance to the making of the film and to ensure its authenticity on the basis of guarantees by the Director, Meghna Gulzar that her contribution would be acknowledged.

Bhat claimed that Gulzar had explicitly conveyed to her that once the film is released, everyone one would know that it was Bhat who had argued Laxmi's case.

The Court was also informed that even the first rough draft of the film's script that was shared by Gulzar with Bhat included the following as part of the end credits of the film:

“Aparna Bhat continues to fight cases of sexual and physical violence against women."

However, it was after the premiere release of the film “Chhapaak” on January 7 that Bhat realised that the acknowledgement promised to her was removed from the film.

Bhat then addressed the issue again with Gulzar through an email communication and received a response to that stated that Gulzar would respond after the public release of the movie.

Subsequently, a legal notice was also sent by Bhat but to no avail which resulted in Bhat moving the Court.

The suit was filed by Advocates Pukhrambam Ramesh Kumar and Shivangi Singh.

Bhat was represented by Senior Advocate Sanjay Parikh.