Copyright infringement: SC notice on filmmaker’s plea to quash Kahaani 2 script case

Sujoy Ghosh approached the top court challenging an April 22 order of the Jharkhand high court refusing to quash the proceedings pending against him

The Supreme Court on Wednesday granted exemption to Bollywood director Sujoy Ghosh from personal appearance over a copyright infringement case of Kahaani 2 movie script before a Jharkhand high court.

Kahaani 2, a sequel to the superhit Kahaani, also produced by Ghosh, was released in December 2016. (IMDB)

Issuing notice on his petition to quash the case pending before the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) Hazaribagh, a bench of justices PS Narasimha and R Mahadevan, sitting during the partial court working days, sought response of the Jharkhand government and granted Ghosh exemption from personally appearing before the magistrate.

Ghosh approached the top court challenging an April 22 order of the Jharkhand high court refusing to quash the proceedings pending against him. The Kahaani 2 scriptwriter had challenged the order of the CJM passed on June 7, 2018, holding that a prima facie case of copyright infringement was made out under Section 63 of the Copyright Act, 1957.

Appearing for Ghosh, senior advocate Siddharth Dave pointed out that the whole premise that the script of Kahaani 2 was stolen is misconceived as he denied meeting the complainant, one Umesh Prasad Mehta, who claimed that in 2015 he approached Ghosh with his script titled “Sabak”. Mehta alleged in his complaint that he met Ghosh to get his recommendation letter to get his script registered with the Screen Writers Association.

Kahaani 2, a sequel to the superhit Kahaani, also produced by Ghosh, was released in December 2016.

Dave said, “This sets a dangerous precedent. A criminal process has been initiated against an honest filmmaker on the basis of self-serving allegations.”

He pointed out the fallacy in the complaint by stating that Ghosh completed writing the script of the movie in 2012, and the same was registered with the Screen Writers Association in December 2013, much before the complainant’s script got registered.

Further, Dave questioned the jurisdiction of the Jharkhand court to entertain the complaint as a criminal court cannot determine whether a person has a copyright over a script. Even on the aspect of jurisdiction, the complainant claimed to have met Ghosh in Mumbai. Since the alleged incident took place in Mumbai, he argued that the complaint was not maintainable before a Jharkhand court.

He dismissed the allegations in the complaint to be “patently absurd” and “inherently improbable” and said, the complaint is nothing but a tool for harassment,” urging the top court to set aside the HC order and quash the complaint.