Nishka Srinivas Veluvali
Published On: December 22, 2021 at 20:55 IST
Bombay High Court prolonged the Stay Order put on the Summons issued by the Mumbai Court in a Criminal Defamation Case filed against the producers of the movie Gangubai Kathiawadi and the actress Alia Bhatt along with the authors of the book on which the movie is based.
In August the Court that permitted interim stay which got extended with today’s Order.
The Summons were issued by the Metropolitan Magistrate at Mazgaon, Mumbai after the Defamation complaint filed by Babuji Shah who claims himself to be adopted son of Gangubai Kathiawadi.
In his complaint Shah stated that the authors S Hussain Zaidi and Jane Borges in their novel of The Mafia Queens of Mumbai, have tarnished the reputation of Gangubai as there are some chapters that were defamatory and infringed her Right to Privacy.
The producers along with Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Alia Bhatt and the authors have advanced to the High Court opposing the Summons issued against them.
Senior Advocate Aabad Ponda representing the producers and Bhatt informed the Court that they had no idea of Babuji Shah’s existence and also put forth the Order of Mumbai City Civil Court which permitted the novel of The Mafia Queens of Mumbai to get published, sold or also creating the third-party rights on the novel.
However, the Advocate appearing for the complainant, Narendra Dubey highlighted that the issue of adoption was resolved in the Mumbai Civil Court in other proceedings and also asserted that the authors of the novel had admitted that they knew about the adopted son of Gangubai Kathiawadi.
Justice SK Shinde who was hearing the Defamation proceedings inferred that the complainant was incompetent to show the proofs of he was the adopted son of the deceased Gangubai.
Justice Shinde also stressed on the fact that this issue requires more attention as the right to raise grievances against Defamation is restricted to family, relatives. Hence it is very important for Shah to prove that he is one of them.
Till then the Court has Ordered to continue the Stay Order put on the proceedings and the Summons against the Accused.
