Novelist Chetan Bhagat has been embroiled in a controversy wherein a Bengaluru based author Anvita Bajpai has accused him of lifting her story idea for his latest novel 'One Indian Girl'
Chetan Bhagat. Pic/Chetan Bhagat Facebook
Novelist Chetan Bhagat has been embroiled in a controversy wherein a Bengaluru based author Anvita Bajpai has accused him of plaigiarising and lifting her story idea for his latest novel 'One Indian Girl'.
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Bajpai took to social media claiming that "characters, places and emotional flow" of Bhagat's book have been lifted from one of her books "Life, Odds and Ends", a copy of which she had gifted to the author during Bengaluru Literature Festival in 2014. She also filed a lawsuit in a Bengaluru court which granted temporary injunction restraining sales of the book 'One Indian Girl.'
Anvita Bajpai sent a legal notice on February 22 to Chetan Bhagat and asked him to withdraw the book titled 'One Indian Girl' and also to pay a sum of Rs. 5 lakhs towards damages. He sent a reply on March 23 denying all the allegations and has stoutly denied that 'One Indian Girl' is totally a different story and not based on ideas of story drawing parallels written by Anvita Bajpai.
Also read: Chetan Bhagat rants against Rajdeep Sardesai, asks him 'to be responsible'
Bajpai approached civil Court at Bangalore and has filed an Original Suit seeking permanent injunction restraining Chetan Bhagat and the publisher from selling 'One Indian Girl' and also sought for damages of Rs. 1 lakh. The Court, after hearing the advocate for Anvita Bajpai, has granted temporary injunction till the next of hearing restraining Chetan Bhagat and the publisher from selling the Book.The injunction order came to be passed on April 19, 2017.
Bhagat rubbished the allegations as unfounded and said his book was not based on Bajpai's works in any way. He took to his his official Facebook page for clarification.
"Just wanted to share something. Today I learnt that someone called Anvita Bajpai has filed a case in the Bangalore lower court and got a temporary injunction stating something about One Indian Girl based on her already published work. This is deeply unfortunate. This is for one an absolute surprise for me as I have never read any of this author's works. My stories are always original - including One Indian Girl - and it is unthinkable for me to do anything like what is suggested. Surely, alleging anything like this in the current digital age is strange."
"I write universal stories about everyday issues. This could be a misunderstanding and am sure will be clarified as what is being suggested is baseless. My publisher's legal team will be taking appropriate steps."
"My readers' trust is most valuable to me and I will never, ever compromise that."
Anvita Bajpai, an IIT and IIM graduate, having passion for writing published a collection of short stories in a book titled 'Life, Odds and Ends' in the year 2014. The first story of the book is titled 'Drawing Parallels'. This story centred on a woman, feminist, non-conventional, adventurously deviant especially in matters of relationships with the opposite sex; and she settles down in her third relationship by finding a balance for her family and other aspirations.
Chetan Bhagat, a celebrated writer published a fiction called 'One Indian Girl' in the year 2016. Anvita Bajpai claims that during the year 2014, when Chetan Bhagat had come to Bangalore for BLF’14, she had given him a copy of her book for writing review; though he denied the notice sent by Anvita Bajpai alleging that one Indian girl published in the year 2016 is nothing but a copy of 'Drawing Parallels' and the theme of her story has been intelligently copied.
Rupa Publications, which had published the book, six months back, refused to comment on the issue. 'One Indian Girl' is Bhagat's seventh novel and is about an investment banker, Radhika Mehta, who is stuck with making a choice between the three men in her life, while trying to keep up a distinctly different image for the sake of her family.
His novel "Five Point Someone" was yesterday announced to have been included in the English literature curriculum for undergraduate students at Delhi University.
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