On Thursday, the Delhi High Court declined to halt the launch of the Netflix series “Trial By Fire”, which is based on the 1997 Uphaar Cinema fire tragedy. image credit: Google

The ruling was made when the court considered a plea from real estate magnate Sushil Ansal, who was seeking a temporary suspension of the series due to its release date being January 13. image credit: Google

In November 2021, Gopal and Sushil Ansal were each given seven year jail sentences by a Delhi court for tampering with evidence , which was reduced by the sessions court to the time already served in July of 2020. image credit: Google

Sushil 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. image credit: Google

The appeal in the sessions court resulted in the conviction being upheld in July , however, the sentence was reduced for the time already served. image credit: Google

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, there is a substantial foundation to allege that the movie will misrepresent Ansal. image credit: Google

Justice Varma declined to grant the injunction , noting that Ansal had not provided any convincing argument to alter the release date of the series. image credit: Google

He stated that the right to privacy and the right to reputation can be claimed , but the right to freedom of expression was equally important and the court must not interfere into a third party's right to express their views. image credit: Google

Neelam Krishnamoorthy, chairperson of the Association of the Victims of the Uphaar Tragedy, has persistently sought justice on behalf of those affected. image credit: Google

Vikas Pahwa argued that Ansal had prior knowledge of the book's publication due to it being mentioned in a plea submitted to the Supreme Court. image credit: Google