The Supreme Court on Friday, March 20, set aside the proceedings pending before a Jharkhand court against filmmaker Sujoy Ghosh in a copyright infringement case linked to his film Kahaani 2. The case had been ongoing for years, and the court’s decision now brings a clear pause to it. A bench of Justices P S Narasimha and Alok Aradhe allowed Ghosh’s plea, where he had challenged the Jharkhand High Court’s April 22, 2025 order that refused to quash the case against him.
Case against filmmaker Sujoy Ghosh quashed
“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 as per PTI, while allowing Ghosh’s plea. The order effectively overturns both the magistrate’s decision and the high court’s stance on continuing the proceedings.
The matter had reached the Supreme Court after Ghosh challenged the case pending before the CJM court in Hazaribagh. In July last year, the top court had issued notice to the Jharkhand government on his plea to quash the proceedings.
What is the Sujoy Ghosh case all about?
The complaint against Sujoy Ghosh was filed by Umesh Prasad Mehta, who claimed he had written a script titled Sabak and had it certified by a Notary Public in Hazaribagh while seeking copyright protection. According to the complaint, Mehta met Ghosh and obtained a recommendation letter, which he said was needed for the copyright process.
It was further alleged that Ghosh kept a photocopy of the script and later used it to make Kahaani 2, thereby infringing on the complainant’s copyright. The complainant said he watched the film at a film hub in Hazaribagh and believed that his script had been used without permission.
The high court had earlier refused to intervene, noting that it would not conduct a “mini-trial” at the quashing stage and that the claims could be examined during the trial. With the Supreme Court now quashing the proceedings, the case stands closed at this stage.
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