Supreme Court Reserves Verdict In Filmmaker Sujoy Ghosh's Plea To Quash Copyright Case Over Film Kahaani 2
The Supreme Court on Tuesday reserved its judgment in a plea filed by filmmaker Sujoy Ghosh seeking the quashing of criminal proceedings alleging copyright infringement in connection with the film Kahaani 2, which was declined by the Jharkhand High Court.
A bench of Justices Pamidighantam Sri Narasimha and Alok Aradhe heard the matter and reserved the verdict.
Earlier, on July 2, 2025, the court issued notice and granted interim relief by dispensing with Ghosh's personal appearance before the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Hazaribagh during the pendency of the case, and also directed that no coercive steps be taken against him.
“Personal appearance of the petitioner is dispensed with till the pendency of the special leave petition, before the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Hazaribagh.”, the court had directed.
The dispute arose from a complaint filed by Umesh Prasad Mehta, who alleged that he had authored a film script titled Sabak and obtained copyright protection for it. According to the complaint, he had approached Ghosh for a recommendation letter required for copyright registration and shared a copy of the script with him. It was alleged that Ghosh later used the script to produce the film Kahaani 2, thereby infringing the complainant's copyright.
Acting on the complaint, the CJM, Hazaribagh, on June 7, 2018 found a prima facie case under Section 63 of the Copyright Act and issued summons against Ghosh.
Ghosh subsequently approached the Jharkhand High Court under the Criminal Procedure Code seeking quashing of the proceedings. However, on April 22, 2025, the High Court declined to interfere, holding that the inherent powers of the court should not be exercised to stifle legitimate prosecution at the threshold.
The high court observed, “The veracity of such statement, is certainly is to be tested at the time to trial but at the stage of issuing the process when accused has no right to take part, the limited role of Magistrate in putting questions to the complainant and the witnesses.”, while declining to quash the proceedings.
Ghosh then approached the Supreme Court on July 2, 2025. He denied the allegations, claiming that the script of Kahaani 2 had been written in 2012 and registered with the Screen Writers Association in December 2013, much before the complainant's script.
The Supreme Court has now reserved its judgment in his plea to quash criminal proceedings arising out of the alleged infringment.