The Bombay High Court today stayed the defamation proceedings initiated by a lower court against Alia Bhatt and Sanjay Leela Bhansali with regards to their film Gangubai Kathiawadi. A criminal defamation case was filed against the actor and the makers of the film and the High Court had earlier granted an ad-interim stay on the summons issued by the Magistrate Court in the case filed by Babuji Shah, the adopted son of Gangubai Kathiawadi on whom the film is based.
Shah had claimed that the chapters on Gangubai in the novel The Mafia Queens of Mumbai on which the film is based were defamatory, tarnished her reputation and infringed upon her right to privacy and being her descendent, he was affected. Shah had moved the HC, seeking a stay on the release of the film and an order on restraining the writers/publishers of the novel from creating any third-party rights or writing any other story on his mother Gangubai Kathiawadi’s life. His suit for restraining the authors was dismissed by a City Civil Court previously, which was pointed out by Bhansali and Alia’s lawyer, Senior Advocate Aabad Ponda.
Justice SK Shinde while admitting the petition under section 482 of the CrPC filed by Alia, Bhansali, and others, observed that prima facie the complaint did not disclose the clauses of defamation under section 499(1) of the IPC. The producers, Bhansali and Alia had moved the High Court against such summons and the process issued against them. They also claimed that they had no knowledge of Shah’s existence, the alleged adopted son of Gangubai Kathiawadi.
Justice Shinde observed that Shah had failed to show proof as to how he was the adopted son of Kathiawadi. He emphasized that this information was important and crucial as the right to raise grievance against defamation was only limited to family members or close relatives, hence it was important for Shah to prove he was one of them. Providing interim relief to the actress and the film’s producers, Shinde stayed the proceedings in the case.
(Source: Live Law)
