Lawsuit filed against 'Paa' for violating disabilities act

A lawsuit has been filed in a court charging Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan with violating the disabilities act through his latest film Paa in which he plays a 13-year-old boy suffering from progeria, a rare disease that accelerates the ageing process.

Big B has been accused of poking fun at people with disabilities.

The case has been filed by Patna High Court lawyer Shruti Singh in the court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate under The Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995. It has also been filed against Paa director R Balki. The court will hear the case next week.

"I filed a case in the court demanding a probe into whether Paa violated the act or not," Singh said on Saturday. "My stand is simple: If it violated the disability act, the authorities should act against the producer and actors of the film for making a joke of disabled people," she added.

According to Singh, the act is guided by the philosophy of empowering people with disabilities and their associates. The act endeavours to introduce an instrument for promoting equality and participation of people with disabilities on the one hand, and eliminating discrimination of all kinds on the other.