The Bombay High Court bench of Justices Sambhaji Shinde and Nijamoodin Jamadar on Monday temporarily stayed the probe into the criminal defamation FIR filed against Sony Pictures and Applause Entertainment by the Karad Urban Cooperative Bank (KUCB). The KUCB had registered an FIR against the duo for unauthorizedly using it's registered trademark.
According to advocate Shekhar Jagtap for KUCB, the web series has a scene where in Harshad Mehta is seen speaking to bank officials. "In that particular scene, a calendar can be seen in the background having logo of our bank," Jagtap said, adding, "Factually they wanted to expose that our bank had a transaction with Harshad Mehta in 1992."
"But the name of the bank shown on the calendar is not Karad but Karaj Urban Cooperative Bank. It has nothing to do with KUCB," argued senior counsel Amit Desai, appearing for the makers of the film.
Desai further pointed out that the Trademarks Act mandate a probe to be conducted by a deputy Superintendent of Police. "But here the probe is being conducted by a police inspector. Thus, we think the law isn't being followed," Desai said.
Meanwhile, senior counsel Shirish Gupte for Sony Pictures argued that the Bank of Karaj used in the series was a pseudonym for KUCB and their alleged involvement in the scam was in public domain and confirmed by the RBI.
Having heard the submissions, the bench ordered the Pune Police not to proceed with the probe into the FIR, at least till September 17, the next date of hearing.
