Uphaar Tragedy: Delhi High Court refuses to stay release of Netflix series Trial By Fire

The Delhi High Court on Thursday refused to stay the release of Trial By Fire, a Netflix series based on the 1997 Uphaar Cinema tragedy in which 59 people lost their lives. [Sushil Ansal v. Endemol India Pvt Ltd].Justice Yashwant Varma pronounced the order today, rejecting a plea by Sushil Ansal, one of the owners of Uphaar Cinema. Ansal had alleged that the show and the book that it is based on defamed him and violated his right to privacy. .In its order, the Court noted that the show in question is yet to even stream, and therefore, it would be wholly inappropriate to grant injunctive relief before the show has been examined in its entirety.The judge said that that the Court must also bear in mind that the web series is based on a book penned by parents who had lost teenage children in the tragedy, and is a story which alleges a systemic failure, and manifests a cry of anguish against the manner in which the incident was prosecuted and tried."It essentially represents their perspective and opinion. A fictional rendition of their trials and tribulations cannot, prima facie, be presumed to be defamatory. More fundamentally, their personal experience and perception of the incident or the culpability of the plaintiff would remain their belief, impression and understanding of the entire episode," the order stated.The Court added that ultimately, it would be for a reasonably informed individual acting upon contemporary standards to form his/her opinion..In his suit, Ansal had stated that he has been punished both legally and socially for his association with the Uphaar tragedy, and that his family had also suffered extensively.He said that he had apologised to the victims' families for the tragedy and had expressed deep remorse, but ought not to be made perpetually liable to be rebuked by the public time and again, especially after having served his sentence..Ansal argued that his portrayal in the trailer and teaser of the Netflix series has the propensity to cause further immense and irreparable harm to his reputation and right to life under Article 21 of the Constitution of India.While seeking a permanent injunction against the series as well as the book on which it is based, he also sought interim relief in the form of a stay on the release of the show..Appearing for Ansal, Senior Advocate Siddharth Aggarwal had argued that the characterization of his client in the movie, not being based on public records, was prejudicial to his reputation. He thus sought for the movie to be screened before the Court."The only way to find out whether my fears are unfounded is the screening of the movie for your lordships to see...both, the teaser and the trailer, as well as the book, indicate clearly that this movie is about how I am a mass murderer and not what I've been found guilty of," he said..Senior Advocate Rajiv Nayar, representing Netflix, pointed out that the injunction was sought by Ansal on the basis of statements in the book on which the film is based. He referred to the disclaimer which states that the series is a work of fiction."The allegation is based on the book...Can we speculate what the film will be? Can we speculate in light of the disclaimer I've taken?" he asked.Also appearing for Netflix, Senior Advocate Amit Sibal added that the matter was of public interest as it was publicly announced that a web series will be made, and that the book was published three years before the announcement.The show, which is based on a 2016 book titled Trial by Fire: The Tragic Tale of the Uphaar Fire Tragedy, written by Neelam and Shekhar Krishnamoorthy, is set to stream on Netflix on January 13..After considering the arguments, the judge said that prima facie, the court is not convinced to arrive at the conclusion that the narrative penned by the parents could be said to be wholly fantastical or deprived of a semblance of the truth as conceived.Justice Varma further observed that prima facie, Ansal appears to have concealed material facts and practiced misrepresentation while asserting that he became aware of the contents of the Book only around January 8, 2023. "Prima facie the Court is of the opinion that the assertion that he came to know about the contents of the said work only on 08 January 2023 is implausible."The court, therefore, dismissed the plea to stay the release of the show. .Agarwal along with Advocates Gautam Khazanchi, Kumar Vaibhav, Somaya Gupta and Sukanya Joshi appeared for Ansal. Endemol and House of Talkies (the production house) were represented through Senior Advocate Sandeep Sethi along with Advocates Nidhish Mehrotra, Anushree Rauta, Rahul Dhote, SS Ahluwalia, Devangini Rai, Mohit Bangwal and Narayani P Chaudhary of ANM Global.Senior Advocates Rajiv Nayar and Amit Sibal, along with Advocates Manav Kumar, S Debarata Reddy, Shivangi Sharma, Saurabh Seth, Manjula Das, Vinay Tripathi, Rishabh Sharma, Darpan Sachdeva and Abhishek Grover appeared for Netflix. Senior Advocate Vikas Pahwa along with Advocates Raavi Sharma and Manisha Jain appeared for the authors of the book. Advocates Vrinda Bhandari, Natasha Maheshwari and Madhav Aggarwal appeared for the publishers of the book..[Read Order]