The Supreme Court on Friday allowed the petition filed by national award-winning scriptwriter and director Sujoy Ghosh and quashed the criminal proceedings initiated against him under Section 63 of the Copyright Act, 1957, on the allegation that his film “Kahaani 2: Durga Rani Singh” was made using a stolen script.

A bench comprising Justices Pamidighantam Sri Narasimha and Alok Aradhe quashed the criminal case pending before the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Hazaribagh, Jharkhand. The order was passed in a Special Leave Petition challenging the Jharkhand High Court’s refusal to exercise powers under Section 482 CrPC to quash the proceedings.

The complaint was filed by Umesh Prasad Mehta, who claimed that Ghosh had received the script of his work titled “Sabak” in June 2015 for the purpose of obtaining a recommendation letter for registration with a film producers’ organisation. Mehta alleged that the same script was used to make “Kahaani 2”, starring Vidya Balan, which was released in December 2016, thereby committing the offence of copyright infringement punishable under Section 63 of the Copyright Act.

Ghosh stoutly denied the allegations. He placed on record that he had commenced writing the script of “Kahaani 2” as early as November 2012 and had registered the final draft with the Screen Writers Association in December 2013 — nearly two years before the complainant’s script was allegedly handed over. He also denied ever meeting the complainant or receiving any script from him.

Senior Advocate Siddhartha Dave, appearing for Ghosh, contended before the Supreme Court that the Magistrate had issued the summoning order mechanically under Sections 200-204 CrPC without even a prima facie comparison of the two scripts. The complaint itself did not produce the script of “Kahaani 2”, yet summons were issued straightaway. It was argued that the entire criminal process was initiated on self-serving allegations without making out any case of copyright infringement, and was nothing but a tool of harassment.

The petition further highlighted that the script of “Kahaani 2” was registered two years prior to the registration of “Sabak”, rendering any allegation of theft inherently improbable. Territorial jurisdiction was also raised, as the entire alleged offence took place in Mumbai, making the complaint at Hazaribagh non-maintainable.

The Supreme Court found merit in these submissions and held that the High Court had failed to exercise its jurisdiction under Section 482 CrPC to quash a frivolous complaint containing patently absurd and inherently improbable allegations. The criminal proceedings were accordingly quashed in their entirety.

Cause Title: Sujoy Ghosh v. State of Jharkhand | SLP(Crl) No. 9452/2025