Delhi HC reserves judgement on Fox plea challenging order asking "Chhapaak" filmmakers to give credit to victim's lawyer

Delhi High Court on Friday reserved order on Fox Studios plea challenging the trial court order asking "Chhapaak" filmmakers to give credit to lawyer Aparna Bhat, who claims to have represented survivor Lakshmi in her legal battle.

The High Court will deliver its order on January 11.

Patiala House Court had on Thursday passed an order granting an ex-parte interim mandatory injunction against the petitioner and directed that the film "Chhapaak" has to carry the line -- Aparna Bhat continues to fight cases of sexual and physical violence against women during the screening of the film.

The petitioner, Fox Studios has requested the Delhi High Court to set aside the trial court order.

The petitioner submitted that if the order passed in a suit filed just one day before the release of the film, is not vacated, varied or modified, then the petitioner will suffer grave injustice and irreparable harm and injury.

The petitioner said that the judge has committed grave illegality in passing the order in as much as a mandatory order of injunction has been passed in favour of the plaintiff in the suit, without any notice or summons being issued to the defendants or having given the defendants an opportunity to contest the suit and the interim injunction application therein.

The petitioner said that it is gravely prejudiced by the order and in complete violation of principles of natural justice.

The petitioner said that the trial court judge has overlooked the fact that insertion of the line would require substantial effort and is time-consuming.

"Any process, modification/insertion would involve substantial resources, important time, and by no stretch of imagination, could be carried in a time period of less than 24 hours, i.e. the time available between the receipt of the order by the petitioner and the time of the release of the film," the plea said.

"It is also pertinent to note that the prints were dispatched to the various theatres well in advance of the release of the film. Thus, not only does the Impugned Order suffer from grave jurisdictional errors, the compliance of the order is also an impossibility," the plea added.