NEW DELHI: Is there a ‘Sabak’ (lesson) in the film ' Kahani-2 ' for producer-director Sanjay Ghosh ? The Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to adjudicate Ghosh’s petition against criminal proceedings initiated against him in a Hazaribagh court by one Umesh Prasad Mehta , who accused Ghosh of lifting from his literary work “Sabak’.
The entire case is a classic example of snail paced three-tiered justice delivery system in India – a simple question whether Ghosh has lifted from Umesh’s work ‘Sabak’ and used it in the script of his film “Kahani-2” has already consumed six years since the Hazaribagh magistrate found a prima facie case and issued summons to Ghosh in 2018. And there is no finality yet to the entire controversy.
Ghosh challenged the magistrate’s order before the Jharkhand HC in 2018, and his plea was rejected by the HC only on Apr 22 this year, after nearly seven years. Arguing his appeal against the HC order, senior advocate Siddharth Dave told a bench of Justices P S Narasimha and R Mahadevan that the magistrate, without watching Kahani-2 film, has formed an erroneous prima facie opinion and issued summons to Ghosh.
The bench said that it could be proved only in a trial whether the content of ‘Sabak’ has been plagiarised in the script of ‘Kahani-2’. However, it refused to stay the trial proceedings before the Hazaribagh court while exempting Ghosh’s personal appearance before the magistrate.
Umesh had alleged that he had given the script of ‘Sabak’ to Ghosh for assistance in obtaining copyright over it. Ghosh later produced ‘Kahani-2” and after watching it at Hazaribagh, Umesh filed a complaint before the trial court alleging that “Ghosh has violated his copyright by committing theft of the script to produce ‘Kahani-2’ film”.
The Chief Judicial Magistrate, Hazaribagh, found a prima facie case for the offence punishable under Section 63 of Copyright Act, 1957 and issued summons to Ghosh.
The entire case is a classic example of snail paced three-tiered justice delivery system in India – a simple question whether Ghosh has lifted from Umesh’s work ‘Sabak’ and used it in the script of his film “Kahani-2” has already consumed six years since the Hazaribagh magistrate found a prima facie case and issued summons to Ghosh in 2018. And there is no finality yet to the entire controversy.
Ghosh challenged the magistrate’s order before the Jharkhand HC in 2018, and his plea was rejected by the HC only on Apr 22 this year, after nearly seven years. Arguing his appeal against the HC order, senior advocate Siddharth Dave told a bench of Justices P S Narasimha and R Mahadevan that the magistrate, without watching Kahani-2 film, has formed an erroneous prima facie opinion and issued summons to Ghosh.
The bench said that it could be proved only in a trial whether the content of ‘Sabak’ has been plagiarised in the script of ‘Kahani-2’. However, it refused to stay the trial proceedings before the Hazaribagh court while exempting Ghosh’s personal appearance before the magistrate.
Umesh had alleged that he had given the script of ‘Sabak’ to Ghosh for assistance in obtaining copyright over it. Ghosh later produced ‘Kahani-2” and after watching it at Hazaribagh, Umesh filed a complaint before the trial court alleging that “Ghosh has violated his copyright by committing theft of the script to produce ‘Kahani-2’ film”.
The Chief Judicial Magistrate, Hazaribagh, found a prima facie case for the offence punishable under Section 63 of Copyright Act, 1957 and issued summons to Ghosh.
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