NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday stayed Kerala HC’s direction of not exhibiting the movie “Kantara” and song “Varaharoopam” as a condition for granting anticipatory bail to producer Vijay Kirgandur and director Rishabh Shetty.
The bench of CJI DY Chandrachud, Justices PS Narasimha and JB Pardiwala also said that the HC can't decide on a copyright suit and cant impose conditions of such nature while granting anticipatory bail.
The court also modified HCs direction with regard to their arrest and said that in case of their arrest, they shall be released forthwith.
Court’s order came in a plea was filed by producer Vijay Kirgandur and director Rishabh Shetty of Kantara movie against Kerala HCs February 8 order. HC while granting them anticipatory bail had directed them to appear before the investigating officer on February 12 and 13 between 10:00 AM and 1:00 PM.
Further, the court had also granted the IO permission to interrogate them and present them before jurisdictional court in the event of their arrest.
For the producer and the director, Senior Advocate Ranjit Kumar had said that HCs condition with regards to their release was “incorrect.” Kumar further contended that the condition requiring them to not exhibit the movie and the song till an order is passed with regards to the copyright infringement issue could not be imposed for granting bail. He also added that both the suits alleging infringement of copyright were returned for representation before the commercial court.