Lawyer seeks stay on release of 'Chhapaak', says due credit not given

A lawyer, who claims to have fought the criminal case for the acid victim on whose life Deepika Padukone-starrer movie 'Chhapaak' is based, on Thursday moved a Delhi court seeking stay on its release, asserting that she was not given due credit in the film.

Lawyer Aparna Bhatt moved the petition in this regard before Delhi's Patiala House Court. Judge Pankaj Sharma reserved the order on her petition till 1 pm.

Senior advocate Sanjay Parikh appeared for the petitioner in the court today. During the course of hearing, the judge was told that his client fought Laxmi's case for years and helped during the script-making of the film but was still not given credit.

"She does not want any money. All she only wants is credit as promised by the film director," Parikh told the court.

He said that Bhatt came to know that her name is not included in the movie on January 7 following which she was promised that the production will take care of her concerns after the movie is released.

She was also told that her contribution has been acknowledged in several interviews, the advocate told the court.

"The film-maker acknowledged her but I do not understand why they are hesitating in giving my client any credit," he rued.

The movie, which is slated to be released on January 10, 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.