Kumars star's daughter tells of relief at being cleared of glass attack

"They helped me get through": Chameli Bhatia with her actress mother Meera Syal and stepfather Sanjeev Bhaskar, Syal's co-star in BBC comedy The Kumars At No 42
12 April 2012

The actress daughter of television star Meera Syal today spoke of her relief after being cleared of glassing a partygoer.

Chameli Bhatia's 14-month "nightmare" ended yesterday when a jury at Snaresbrook crown court unanimously found her not guilty of causing actual bodily harm.

Miss Bhatia, 19, wept as her mother, journalist father Shekhar Bhatia and stepfather, comedy actor Sanjeev Bhaskar, embraced in the packed courtoom.

The jury believed Miss Bhatia that a "horrible accident" had led to part-time model Christian Pannell, 19, suffering facial cuts on a packed dance floor at a party in Woodford Green last year. She maintained a ring she was wearing had struck his glass, causing it to shatter.

Heading back today to the University of East Anglia where she is in the first year of a drama degree, Miss Bhatia said: "It has been a really difficult time for me and my family. To be falsely accused of something like this is an awful experience.

"Even though anyone who knows me knew I was innocent, it has been really hard having the case hanging over me, especially as it was my
A-level year. Luckily I got the results I wanted and got into the university I wanted to go to. I couldn't have done that without the support of my mum and dad and stepdad. They helped me get through this."

Miss Bhatia, from Woodford, known as Milli to family and friends, starred in the National Youth Theatre's summer production Our Days Of Rage, about the London riots, and studied part-time at Guildhall School of Music and Drama from the age of 15.

The court heard how Mr Pannell's solicitors wrote to her seeking financial compensation and inquiring whether she had a trust fund. "It's ridiculous to suggest I'd be in a position to pay anything," she said. "I'm relying on loans to get by like any other student."

Syal, 50, who starred with Bhaskar in BBC comedies The Kumars At No 42 and Goodness Gracious Me, said: "We hope Milli will be able to put this behind her and rebuild her life. This has been a lesson in how unfair life can be. Hopefully this will make her stronger. It's been one of the most horrible experiences of my life."
Miss Bhatia, who went to the independent Forest School in Snaresbrook, where Mr Pannell was also a pupil, told how she suffered cyber bullying after he was injured.

She said: "Horrible things were said about me on Facebook. It was really difficult to hear people saying things that aren't true. But my real friends supported me and the teachers were fantastic. It was an ordeal I would never want to go through again."

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