Chetan Bhagat accused of plagiarism

Controversies and legal notices continue to dog Chetan Bhagat's latest novel Half-Girlfriend, which was released in October this year. First the royal family of Dumraon sent Bhagat a legal notice for showing them in a negative light in his book, and now a scholar from Bihar has accused Bhagat of plagiarism.

According to this report in India Today Dr Birbal Jha, the director of British Lingua of a spoken English institute in Patna alleged that Bhagat got the plot for his book from Jha's play Englishia Boli.

Jha claims Bhagat had visited his institute in January this year, interacted with students and also watched a performance of the play. He added that he had even given a copy of the play to the best-selling author.

Jha told India Today on his work, "The main character of my book, Chandra Prasad, is a talented youth belonging to a small town of Bihar. He goes to Delhi but faces problems because of his inability to converse in English...He also meets a modern girl there who speaks English with utmost fluency. She, however, falls in love with him towards the end of the play because of his ability to prove himself."

The plot of Half-Girlfriend is also similar. In Bhagat's book, Madhav a Bihari boy who can't speak English meets Riya, a girl who speaks fluent English. Madhav wants to date Riya but she refuses because of his terrible English-speaking skills and only agrees to be his half-girlfriend.

"This cannot be sheer coincidence," Jha added. Jha also said that his book had been released a year back and he would send a legal notice to Bhagat. For Bhagat this will be the second legal notice with regard to the book.

Bhagat has replied to the charges on Twitter. He wrote, "Stunned media takes on any story with no credibility as long as it is sensational. Facing the brunt of it. Some random person somewhere makes a plagiarism charge.

Somebody whom I do not know or am familiar with their work. Media carries it."He also tweeted in reference to the Dumraon royal family legal notice saying his work was pure fiction. He said, "I have also had others claiming Half Girlfriend defames them or whatever. It is FICTION. Fake. No real names. No intent to defame. Chill."

The erstwhile ruler of the princely state of Dumraon in Bihar’s Buxar district sent a legal notice demanding “unconditional public apology” from Bhagat and publisher Rupa Publications and “recall of all copies of the book that are yet to be circulated” failing which damages and criminal proceedings would be sought against them.

The family also seeks expunging the words “Royal Family of Dumraon” and any other words that refer to the erstwhile rulers from all copies of ‘Half Girlfriend’ that may be published in future. “We have given 21 days to Bhagat and the publishers to take measures to give us relief. They have maligned our family, which has an unbroken and glorious history that could be traced back to over 500 years, and which continues to be in the service of the people of the nation till date,” Chandra Vijay Singh said.

The notice, a copy of which is available with PTI, says ‘Half Girlfriend’ contains express and implied references to the former royal family, which are false and derogatory in nature. It imputes conduct to the family, disparaging them as well as exposing them to contempt and ridicule. It also quotes a paragraph from the book and alleges that the book has portrayed the erstwhile royal family members as ‘gamblers and alcoholics’, and points out that no other royal family of Dumraon existed in India.

“We have suffered ridicule due to the book and we will not let it go. We have also heard that a movie is going to be made based on it. It will lead to further insult. If the author and the publisher do not accept our demands within the stipulated timeframe, we will move court,” said the 67-year-old Singh.

For Bhagat it looks like the success of the book has come with its fair share of trouble. For now he's taken to Twitter to discredit the rumours, but it remains to be seen how he will handle the legal notices that are coming his way.