The Bombay high court on Monday refused to give a stay on releasing Hrithik Roshan’s upcoming film, Mohenjo Daro, saying the petitioner has approached the court too late.
The Bombay high court on Monday refused to give a stay on releasing Hrithik Roshan’s upcoming film, Mohenjo Daro, saying the petitioner has approached the court too late. The film, which is set to release on August 12, can now release as per its schedule.
A division bench of Justice Abhay Oka and Justice A.A. Sayed was hearing an appeal filed by Akashaditya Lama against the order of a single judge of the Bombay high court.
Mr Lama accused Mohenjo Daro’s director Ashutosh Gowariker of stealing his script and said Gowariker has infringed provisions of the Copyright Act.
According to the petitioner, they approached the city civil court in February 2016 and filed a civil suit against Gowariker, saying he had stolen Lama’s script. On March 17, 2016 the petitioner withdrew his suit. And then on June 28, they had filed a petition under the Copyright Act.
During the hearing the HC observed that the petitioner had withdrawn his civil suit on March 17, 2016 and approached the HC at the end of June. “Where were you for three months If you can wait for three months then why do you want us to hear this matter urgently,” asked the high court.
Mr Gowarikar’s lawyer Ravi Kadam said since January, the petitioner knew that the movie is going to be released on August 12. “He kept changing his stand in the city civil court also and ultimately they have moved the HC at the eleventh hour,” Mr Kadam argued.
The court noted that since November 2014, the petitioner was aware the movie was being made.
The court also noted that the single bench of the HC had already rejected the ad-interim relief, saying the petitioner approached the court too late and imposed a penalty of '1.5 lakh to the petitioner.
The court then rejected ad-interim relief and refused to give a stay on the release of the movie.
