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Synopsis

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday directed Meta and Telegram to deactivate all the WhatsApp groups and Telegram channels that are circulating pirated copies of Shah Rukh Khan's latest movie "Jawan".

The bench of Justice C. Hari Shankar also ordered the social media platforms and major mobile networks including Jio, Airtel, Vodafone-Idea and BSNL to reveal the information of phone number holders circulating such copies online so as to enable legal action against them. 

The single-judge bench was hearing an application moved by the producer, Red Chillies Entertainment of the film Jawan. The production house had identified one Rohit Sharma who was illegally selling copies of the film through WhatsApp.

The plaintiff sought directions to Meta platform, which controls WhatsApp to disable the various chat groups on which the it’s copyrighted material is being illegally circulated by Rohit Sharma.

Senior Advocate Rajshekhar Rao appeared for the Plaintiff. He pointed out that a glance at the nature of the groups involved indicated that they were essentially groups that had been brought into existence to circulate pirated content.

The court issued notice in the plea and sought reply from the respondents within four weeks. Accordingly, court posted the matter for further consideration on October 19, 2023.

In an interim order, the court restrained Rohit Sharma as well as others acting on his behalf from copying, recording, reproducing, allowing recording, transmitting, communicating or making available for distribution, duplication, display or release, exhibiting or playing in any manner, any stills, audio/video clips, songs, recordings or other proprietary information relating to the cinematographic film "Jawan" or any part thereof without a proper licence from the Plaintiff, through any medium.

“Mr. Rohit Sharma is additionally directed to take down from all his social media accounts including WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram and Telegram or any other website accessed or operated by him, any content which infringes the copyright of the plaintiff including content relating to the film 'Jawan',” the court ordered.

Furthermore, court directed Meta Platform to suspend the WhatsApp account of Rohit Sharma and block access to any content on the Facebook page titled “Rohit movies” and the Instagram handle titled “@rohitsharma72001” while stating that it infringed the copyright of the plaintiff on the movie “Jawan”.

“Telegram FZ-LLC is directed forthwith to suspend and deactivate the telegram groups/channels identified in Schedule 'C' to the application, if not already suspended/deactivated”, the court ordered.

Case Title: Red Chillies Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. v. Ashok Kumar/John Doe & Ors.