The Supreme Court on Wednesday granted exemption from personal appearance to filmmaker Sujoy Ghosh in connection with a copyright infringement case pending before a Jharkhand court over the script of the 2016 film Kahaani 2.
A bench of Justices P.S. Narasimha and R. Mahadevan, hearing the matter during the Supreme Court’s partial working days, also issued notice on Ghosh’s plea seeking quashing of the case and sought a response from the Jharkhand government.
The case stems from a complaint filed by one Umesh Prasad Mehta, who alleged that Ghosh had plagiarised his script titled Sabak after a purported meeting in 2015. Mehta claimed that he had approached Ghosh to get a recommendation letter for registering his script with the Screen Writers Association, and that elements of Sabak were subsequently used in Kahaani 2.
In June 2018, the Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) of Hazaribagh held that a prima facie case of copyright infringement was made out under Section 63 of the Copyright Act, 1957. Ghosh’s petition to quash these proceedings was dismissed by the Jharkhand High Court on April 22 this year, prompting him to move the apex court.
Appearing for Ghosh, senior advocate Siddharth Dave strongly refuted the allegations, asserting that the complaint was based on “self-serving and inherently improbable claims.” Dave pointed out that Ghosh completed the script of Kahaani 2 in 2012 and had registered it with the Screen Writers Association by December 2013—well before Mehta claimed to have approached him.
“This sets a dangerous precedent. A criminal process has been initiated against an honest filmmaker on the basis of vague allegations,” Dave submitted.
He further questioned the jurisdiction of the Jharkhand court to entertain the complaint, arguing that even as per the complainant’s version, the alleged meeting took place in Mumbai. “A criminal court cannot determine questions of copyright ownership,” Dave argued.
Kahaani 2, a sequel to the critically acclaimed Kahaani, was released in December 2016 and was both written and produced by Ghosh.
The Supreme Court’s notice and exemption order now puts the continuation of the Hazaribagh proceedings on hold, pending further deliberation. The matter will be taken up after the Jharkhand government responds to the notice.
