Supreme Court stays Kerala HC condition on screening 'Kantara'
New Delhi, Feb 10: The Supreme Court on Friday stayed the Kerala High Court's condition directing the producer and director of the Kannada superhit movie "Kantara" to not exhibit the film with the song "Varaharoopam" till a final order in the copyright infringement case.
A bench of Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices P S Narasimha and J B Pardiwala also issued notice to the Kerala government and sought its reply in two weeks.
The bench modified one of the conditions of the high court and directed that producer Vijay Kirgandur and director Rishab Shetty be released on bail immediately if arrested.
The top court took note of the submissions of senior advocate Ranjit Kumar, appearing for Kirgandur and Shetty, challenging some conditions in the high court order and passed an interim order.
On February 8, the high court granted anticipatory bail to the director and producer in a case registered in a Kozhikode police station alleging plagiarism in the song. The allegation was that "Varaharoopam" was an unauthorised copy of the song "Navarasam" shown on the Malayalam music channel Kappa TV.
The high court laid out five conditions and asked Kirgandur and Shetty to surrender before the investigating officer for two days on February 12 and 13 between 10 am and 1 pm for interrogation.
"The Investigating Officer can interrogate them and on completion of interrogation within the above time specified, if they will be arrested, they shall be produced before the jurisdictional court. On such production, the jurisdictional court shall release the petitioners on bail on their executing bonds for Rs.50,000 each with two solvent sureties each for the like amount to the satisfaction of the jurisdictional court concerned", the high court had said.
It said the accused shall not intimidate the witnesses or tamper with evidence and they shall cooperate with the investigation and shall be available for trial. It also said that that the accused/petitioners should not leave India without prior permission of the jurisdictional court.
Condition number five, which is stayed by the top court, said, "The specific condition further is that the petitioners shall not exhibit the film `KANTARA' along with the music `VARAHAROOPAM' in the film till an interim order or final order after addressing infringement of copyright in this matter will be passed by a competent civil court..."
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K’taka HC judge whose controversial remarks triggered controversy expresses regret before open court
Bengaluru: Karnataka High Court judge, Justice V Srishananda, on Saturday expressed regret in open court after facing backlash over his controversial remarks in his recent court hearings, reported Bar and Bench.
Two purported video clips from Justice V Srishananda’s court hearing that show him making inappropriate comments went viral across social media platforms.
On Saturday, Justice Srishananda invited members of the Advocates Association, Bengaluru, and senior lawyers to his courtroom at 2:30 PM, where he read out a note expressing regret for inappropriate comments.
Quoting Advocates Association President Vivek Subba Reddy, Bar and Bench wrote, “He expressed regret for the comments and clarified that it was not his intention to offend any community or members of the Bar. He also requested the association to relay this message to all members of the Bar.”
Reddy further stated, “We also advised him to encourage young lawyers in the courtroom and refrain from making any irrelevant remarks during hearings.”
Another senior lawyer present during the session confirmed to the legal news portal that Justice Srishananda also addressed comments directed at a woman lawyer, who was seen in one of the videos being reprimanded by the judge. The judge Justice Srishananda clarified that his remarks were not intended to target her (woman lawyer) specifically, but rather pertained to the appellant she was representing. “He explained that his comment was meant to imply that the appellant seemed to know a lot about the other party,” said the lawyer.
In addition, Justice Srishananda assured those present that he would avoid making such comments in the future.
The controversy came to light on September 19, when a video clip from an August 28 Court hearing surfaced on social media, showing Justice Srishananda referring to a Muslim-majority sub-locality in Bengaluru’s Goripalya as "Pakistan." Hours later, another video from the same courtroom emerged, in which the judge was seen making a gender-insensitive remark.
Following outrage over the viral videos, a Supreme Court bench led by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, along with Justices Sanjiv Khanna, BR Gavai, Surya Kant, and Hrishikesh Roy, on September 20 took a suo motu cognizance and sought a report from the Karnataka High Court Registrar General in connection with the viral video.
