Chetan Bhagat’s seventh fictional novel, One Indian Girl, was published last year in October and the author claimed to have gone to lengths to explore the material and inspiration for the book.

The book which is written in the first person, Chetan claimed that he had done in-depth research and have talked to over 125 women to understand their though-process and feelings.

However, the novel garnered mixed reviews from the masses and many critics accused Chetan of pseudo-feminism and mansplaining feminism.

Now, ‘One Indian Girl’ has been granted a temporary injunction by Bangalore Court resulting in the stay of the sale of the copies on charges of plagiarism. Yes, one author has claimed that Chetan Bhagat’s One Indian Girl is plagiarized.

An IIT Madras and IIM B’lore alumna, Anvita Bajpai is into IT field. She has also authored 18 books which are mostly compilations of short stories on varying subjects. Out of these 18, two books are published.

Anvita’s book, ‘Life, Odds & Ends’ was published in 2014 and it is one of the four short stories of this book, titled, ‘Drawing Parallels,’ which she claims has uncanny similarities with One Indian Girl.

She sent a legal notice to Chetan Bhagat, in February this year and filed a lawsuit in a city court, claiming ‘One Indian Girl’ is an intelligent copy of the story ‘Drawing Parallels’ from her book, ‘Life, Odds & Ends.’

After obtaining the temporary injunction for Chetan’s book, she posted about it on her social media handle on April 24.

Chetan dismissed all her allegations and wrote a post addressing Anvita as “someone.”

“Today I learned 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.”

Referring to this note by Bhagat and in reply to all those who questioned her intent behind this accusation, calling it a “publicity stunt,” Anvita wrote a lengthy note explaining her stance, her intent, and her quest for justice.

We contacted Anvita Bajpai to understand her side of the story, her future course of action, and more.

When asked about the reactions from within the writing circle and whether people are hesitant to take a public stand due to Chetan’s popularity in the country, Anvita simply said, “I am not at all concerned about other people’s opinions. In my post, too, I have mentioned that it’s not a question of how Chetan addressed me in his post because it doesn’t matter. I took a stand for what’s right and that’s important.”

Inquiring about how she came across the similarities between ‘One Indian Girl’ and her book, she explained, “I have never read any of his books. Some of my friends and other people pointed it out to me and then after I read the reviews of his books, I decided to read it. I was taken aback as to how two stories can be so similar.”

‘One Indian Girl’ is the story of an investment banker, Radhika Mehta, and her relationship with her two ex-boyfriends and a current suitor for an arranged marriage.

‘Drawing Parallels,’ one of the four stories from her book, ‘Life, Odds & Ends’ is about a married woman, Aliya, who has an extra-marital affair with her ex-boyfriend, but, in the end, settles for the third man.

“It cannot be a mere coincidence!” exclaimed Anvita. “The flow of the story, the theme, the narrative style, is exactly the same as my story, Drawing Parallels.”

“I wouldn’t even say it’s an intelligent copy of my book, because there are some parts, in fact even some of names that have been as it is taken from my book and just used in a different context to appear “original,”” claimed Anvita.

“Both of the books are out there and everyone is free to read them and decide,” she added.

To gain an insight about her groundwork that went into writing the book, we asked her to share with us the inspiration behind her stories and characters.

“I am into technology and attend many seminars and conferences. In 2013, I was attending one international conference as a speaker where I was invited to speak about the human behavior studies that I had conducted as part of my many research papers. As a part of those studies, I have had met so many people and when you indulge into in-depth conversations, you start understanding the dynamics of relationships and the issues related to it, in every person’s life,” explained Anvita.

“In fact, this story also started out as an article for one of my papers, but when I started writing it I thought that it would come out better in the form of a story,” she added.

“I am fond of writing short stories for my better understanding of people and my satisfaction. When I presented my book of four short stories to my publisher, I distinctly remember him saying that each one of them could turn into novels and suggested me to work on it. But, I refused. I am already working in the IT field and for me, writing is my passion and is fueled by my need to explore human feelings and how it affects their relationships,” told Anvita.

“Critics and masses didn’t receive ‘One Indian Girl’ too well. Do you take part of that criticism on your story, too?” I questioned.

With a faint smile, she replied, “No! I think he missed the depth. There’s no justice in terms of the words, the feelings, or the story.”

“And, how do you see this entire episode impacting your career?” I probed further.

“Different people have different perspectives towards writing, and as I said, I write to understand the society better and it’s not my first or only career,” she said, “In fact, when I read his book and was thinking about my plan of action, my first thought was to decide whether I want to go forward with this or let it go. I have a job, I have a 7-year-old daughter to take care of and I knew if I decide to go ahead with it, it wouldn’t be an easy journey for me. However, it was hurting me! It’s like I have created something and someone else takes it away and says it’s theirs. I wasn’t at peace and that’s when I decided to do something about it.”

“You are a mother to a 7-year-old. What lessons do you wish her to learn from this incident?” I asked inquisitively.

For the first time in our entire conversation, I heard a small chuckle and in a rather cheery tone, she said, “I think she will learn her own lessons as she grows up. But, of course, we all learn from seeing our parents and imbibe certain values from them. If she sees that her mother is strong then she’ll also learn to be strong. And, if she turns out to be strong then I’ll feel successful as a parent.”

In the end, when I asked whether she’s satisfied after the temporary injunction by the Court, she said, “I would say it’s a partial satisfaction. I just want justice and my battle is not yet over. It’ll be a long one as it’s just a temporary injunction. I am still awaiting the final verdict.”

We hope the justice in the entire matter will prevail. Also, we wish to remind everyone that with the easy availability of the content and artwork, thanks to the Internet, the issue of plagiarism is only growing. And, we urge people to exercise the power of social media responsibly and ethically.