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The Delhi High Court today issued notice on a plea filed by Sushant Singh Rajput’s father, Krishna Kishore Singh against an earlier order of the High Court which had refused to stay the release of the movie “Nyay: The Justice”, purportedly based on the life of the late Actor.

The Vacation bench comprising Justices Anup Jairam Bhambhani and Jasmeet Singh however refused to grant interim stay on the release of the movie after it was informed that the movie had been released on a LapalapOriginal.com and its associated application (App) with Over 1.25 lakh views.

On the previous hearing the bench had raised a query as to whether the movie which was scheduled to be released on the OTT platform on June 11, 2021 has been released or not.

Senior Advocate Harish Salve appearing for the late Actor’s Father submitted that though the movie had been released on Lapalap, the matter had not become infructuous and the movie would not amount a “release” since it was an “insignificant and a hopeless platform” which did not have many viewers.

Salve further submitted that the harm to the reputation of the late Actor was comparatively less and an order restraining its further release on an international OTT Platform like Netflix was necessary to prevent further harm.

“If the movie is released tomorrow on Netflix it will have a large public view. At present the damage is less. I’m placing before my Lordhip intellectual property rights and constitutional rights.. if i am correct then I am entitled to an injunction”, submitted Salve.

Salve further pointing out the observations of the Single Judge said that  the law relating to Privacy had been misinterpreted in the various judgements including the SC judgement in Puttaswamy’s case.

He therefore urged the court to consider, inter alia by releasing the movie the respondents 2 and 3 have unlawfully exploited the life story of the appellant’s deceased son.

The bench observed that there was no script or story already written on the life of Rajput which have been used by a filmmaker, neither was there an unholy intention of making the movie. Moreover, the theme of the movie was a plausible one.

The Court therefore issued notice and refused to grant interim stay on further release. The matter has been listed for hearing in the second week of July, 2021.

The Single Judge bench of the Delhi High Court led by Justice Sanjeev Narula on June 10th had refused to grant injunction observing that “the Defendants’ films are neither portrayed as a biopic, nor a factual narration of what transpired in the life of the SSR, and are depicted to be complete fictional and inspired from certain events which have occurred in the past and have been widely discussed and are available in public domain”.

Case Title: Krishna Kishore Singh vs Sarla A. Saraogi & Ors  FAO(OS) (COMM) 88/2021

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