New Delhi: The Supreme Court has given a major relief to National Award‑winning director and screenwriter Sujoy Ghosh in a high‑profile copyright case linked to his 2016 film Kahaani 2: Durga Rani Singh.
The top court has quashed a criminal case accusing him of lifting the script from another writer, calling the whole process a “tool of harassment” and warning against the misuse of criminal proceedings in creative disputes. The verdict is being seen as a strong shield for filmmakers who risk being dragged into litigation merely based on heavy‑sounding allegations rather than proof.
What the case was about
The criminal case was filed by Umesh Prasad Mehta under Section 63 of the Copyright Act, 1957, in Hazaribagh, Jharkhand. Mehta claimed that Ghosh had taken his script titled Sabak, which he had handed over in June 2015 to get a recommendation letter, and used it to make Kahaani 2, released in December 2016. “The complaint alleged that this amounted to the offence of copyright infringement,” the Supreme Court noted.
Ghosh’s defence
Through his lawyers, Ghosh firmly denied meeting Mehta or receiving his script. He told the court that he had started writing Kahaani 2 in November 2012 and had registered the final draft with the Screen Writers Association in December 2013. “When the script of Kahaani 2 was registered two years before the registration of the script of Sabak, there cannot be any basis for the allegation of copyright infringement,” his petition argued.
Court’s sharp remarks
Before the bench of Justice Pamidighantam Sri Narasimha and Justice Alok Aradhe, Ghosh’s counsel, Senior Advocate Siddhartha Dave, said the Magistrate issued summons “mechanically, without even a prima facie consideration” of the two scripts. The petition added: “The Impugned Order sets a dangerous precedent where criminal process against an honest film‑maker can be initiated based on self‑serving allegations without making out any case of copyright infringement.” The Supreme Court accepted this reasoning and quashed the criminal proceedings, effectively dropping the case against him.