Also recognised at the event was Vanita Gupta, who won the first India Abroad Publisher's Special Award for Outstanding Achievement.

Also See: Mohini Bhardwaj is the India Abroad Person of the Year 2004

New York attorney Gupta, who won the release of 46 wrongly-accused African Americans in Tulia, Texas, is on the way to having her legal struggle immortalised on celluloid.

Halle Berry is tipped to essay her character in the film tentatively titled Tulia.

Photograph: Paresh Gandhi | Design: Rahil Shaikh