'Chhapaak': Delhi HC reserves order on plea challenges grant of due credit to victim's lawyer

The Delhi High Court on Friday reserved the order on a petition filed by Fox Studios challenging a trial court's order directing the filmmakers of Deepika Padukone-starrer 'Chhapaak' to give credit to the lawyer who claims to have represented acid attack survivor Lakshmi Agarwal in her legal battle.

A Delhi court had yesterday ordered filmmaker Meghna Gulzar to give due credit to lawyer Aparna Bhat who fought the criminal case for the acid survivor on whose life the movie is based.

The court had also issued summons to the filmmaker and the producers for the settlement of issues and listed the matter for February 14 for further hearing.

Bhat had filed a petition before Delhi's Patiala House Court seeking a stay on the release of the movie, asserting that she was not given credit.

The court observed that the contribution of the petitioner should be "acknowledged as she provided necessary legal documents support in the form of consultation, inputs, and documents".

The movie, which hit the cinemas today, is based on Laxmi's life. In 2005, at the age of 15, she was allegedly attacked by a spurned lover.

Laxmi had to undergo several surgeries. Later, she took up the job of helping other acid attack survivors and promoted campaigns to stop such gruesome attacks.