Kamal Ghorui
As ‘Dhurandhar: The Revenge’ continues its strong run at the box office, its director Aditya Dhar has secured interim relief from the Bombay High Court in a defamation case tied to allegations of script theft.On Wednesday, the court passed an interim order restraining filmmaker Santosh Kumar from repeating claims that Dhar had copied the script of the film. Dhar had approached the court, arguing that Kumar’s repeated remarks in the media were defamatory and harmful to his reputation. According to Bar And Bench, Justice Arif Doctor observed that Dhar had established a prima facie case warranting such relief. “Until the next date, the defendant (Kumar) shall be restrained from repeating words and remarks set out in the suit (filed by Dhar) and all other allegations of a similar nature,” the court said. The matter will next be heard on April 16.The dispute stems from statements made by Kumar during a press conference shortly after the release of the film, where he allegedly accused Dhar and the makers of copying his registered script titled D Saheb. Following these allegations, Dhar issued a legal notice denying any plagiarism and cautioning Kumar against making further claims. However, with no response from Kumar, Dhar moved the High Court seeking legal recourse.In his plea, Dhar has sought an injunction as well as damages, maintaining that the allegations are baseless and defamatory. Representing him in court, Senior Advocate Birendra Saraf argued that Kumar’s statements were highly prejudicial. “All I seek is, if he has a grievance about infringement, he himself said I am going to initiate legal proceedings. He can initiate legal proceedings and I will respond to the same appropriately. But in the meanwhile, he can’t use such language,” Saraf said. Taking note of the widespread circulation of the remarks, the court granted limited interim relief to Dhar.“In my view, the plaintiff has made out a case for the grant of limited ad-interim relief,” the Court concluded.
