The Delhi High Court on Thursday declined to halt the launch of the Netflix series Trial By Fire, Abhay Deol’s Series, which is based on the 1997 Uphaar Cinema fire tragedy. The ruling was made when the court considered a plea from real estate magnate Sushil Ansal requesting a temporary suspension of the series, which is due to be released on January 13. The matter was heard before Justice Yashwant Varma, a single-bench judge.
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Ansal brought a legal action demanding a permanent, binding injunction against the book called “Trial By Fire – The tragic tale of the Uphaar Tragedy” written by Neelam and Shekhar Krishnamoorthy, who lost their two children in the 1997 tragedy, and a ban on its further publication and distribution.
In November 2021, Gopal and Sushil Ansal were each given seven year jail sentences by a Delhi court for tampering with evidence. This was reduced by the sessions court to the time already served in July of 2020, leading to the brothers being released after just over eight months. Neelam Krishnamoorthy, chairperson of the Association of the Victims of the Uphaar Tragedy, has persistently sought justice on behalf of those affected.
Siddharth Aggarwal, a senior advocate speaking on behalf of Ansal, pointed out that his client’s real name was used multiple times in the trailer, which harmed his reputation and other rights, despite the series claiming it was fictitious. Justice Varma countered this by saying that it might be the creators’ way of expressing their opinion on the case, but it still does not constitute defamation. Ansal’s counsel also added that, based on the book, it is evident that Ansal has gone unpunished.
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Rajiv Nayar, the senior advocate representing Netflix, stated that based on the release of the book in 2016 and news reports indicating the creation of a web series in 2019, along with the plaintiff’s sentence and fine being extensively reported by the media in 2021, there is a substantial foundation to allege that the movie will misrepresent him, the proceedings, and decisions.
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The appeal in the sessions court resulted in the conviction being upheld in July, however, the sentence was reduced for the time already served. This information was made public. More importantly, the press was notified of our plan to air a web series on January 13, 2022 on December 14, 2022. However, the plaintiff arrived at the last minute to challenge our decision.
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In response to the point made by Vikas Pahwa that Ansal had prior knowledge of the book’s publication due to it being mentioned in a plea submitted to the Supreme Court, Nayar argued that if a person who had been found guilty of tampering with evidence and was convicted under Section 304A should now also be convicted for perjury, it would be a total misrepresentation of facts.
Ansal argued that if the contested series were to be published, it would lead to further damage to him and be a major breach of his basic rights, primarily his right to privacy. He also stated in the legal suit that he had expressed remorse to the families of the victims in front of the Supreme Court and had expressed regret for the horrible incident.
Source: Google
Furthermore, he states that upon finding out the contested show was based on the subject of the contested book, he bought a copy and was astonished to discover that it provided a unilateral account of the unfortunate occurrence.