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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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, there is a substantial foundation to allege that the movie will misrepresent Ansal.
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Justice Varma declined to grant the injunction, noting that Ansal had not provided any convincing argument to alter the release date of the series.
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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.
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Neelam Krishnamoorthy, chairperson of the Association of the Victims of the Uphaar Tragedy, has persistently sought justice on behalf of those affected.
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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.
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