New Delhi, March 20 The Supreme Court on Friday quashed the proceedings pending before a Jharkhand court against filmmaker Sujoy Ghosh in an alleged copyright infringement case related to his movie 'Kahaani 2'.
A bench of Justices P S Narasimha and Alok Aradhe allowed Ghosh's plea, challenging a Jharkhand High Court's order (dated April 22, 2017), which had refused to quash the proceedings against him.
"The summoning order dated June 7, 2018 passed by the CJM (Chief Judicial Magistrate) and the order dated April 22, 2025 passed by the high court are quashed and set aside," the bench said, while allowing Ghosh's plea.
In July last year, the top court issued notice to the Jharkhand government in response to Ghosh's plea to quash the case pending before the court of CJM, Hazaribagh.
The filmmaker had moved the high court against the CJM court's order holding him prima facie liable for copyright infringement under Section 63 of the Copyright Act, 1957.
The high court dismissed Ghosh's plea, observing that it would not conduct a "mini-trial" at the stage of quashing, and that the issues could be tested during the trial.
The complainant, Umesh Prasad Mehta, had written the script for the film "Sabak", which was certified by the Notary Public of Hazaribagh to obtain its copyright.
It was alleged that Mehta met Ghosh and obtained a recommendation letter, which was essential for obtaining the copyright of a film script.
Ghosh allegedly kept a photocopy of Mehta's script and knowingly infringed Mehta's copyright by producing the film 'Kahani 2'.
The complainant watched the film in a film hub in Hazaribagh.
After watching the film, the complainant alleged that Ghosh violated his copyright by stealing his script and infringing its copyright.