Author seeks damages over soap

Author Barbara Taylor Bradford has told a press conference she will seek damages from the makers of an Indian soap opera she says has been "stealing" her work.

British-born Ms Bradford said on Tuesday the show Karishma, The Miracle of Destiny, had plagiarised three of her best-selling books, including A Woman of Substance.

The soap opera, shown on India's Sahara Entertainment channel, was taken off the air on Monday after just one episode, following the upholding of a court injunction.

Ms Bradford accused the TV station of "stealing my ideas, my imagination, my hard work and my ability as a writer".

Ruling overturned

The author had mounted a legal challenge on 7 May to prevent the show being aired.

The High Court in Calcutta then overturned the ruling to allow thesoap to be shown, but Ms Bradford successfully had the injunction reinstated by the higher Supreme Court.

Ms Bradford says Sahara knew of the final ruling before screening the programme.

Somebody had been arrogant enough to take something that belonged to me

Barbara Taylor Bradford

Now the programme has been pulled from the schedules and a further hearing will be held on Wednesday in India.

"The network aired the show last night which they were not supposed to do. Now they are in contempt of the Supreme Court of India," she told BBC Radio 4's Today programme earlier on Tuesday.

The author said the soap, which was planned to run for 260 episodes and stars Bollywood actress Karishma Kapoor, was based on three books and three films produced by her husband Robert Bradford.

It spans three generations with Karishma playing a rags-to-riches heroine.

Jenny Seagrove starred in British TV version of A Woman of Substance

The author said she had never received any payment for the project.

She said she was concerned at the TV station's actions, as she was about to release a fourth book based on the character, Emma's Secret, in June.

"The reason I am disturbed is because of my future works. They can take anything if they take these three books and that is why we have taken the actions that we have," she said.

She said she had felt a "kind of horrible dismay that somebody had been arrogant enough to take something that belonged to me".

Ms Bradford has published 18 novels and sold more than 70 million copies around the world.