Punjab and Haryana HC Refuses to Restrain Release of Film “Dear Jassi”

In a significant ruling, the Punjab and Haryana High Court set aside an order passed the trial court and vacated the stay granted on the release of the film "Dear Jassi," which is based on the real-life tragedy of Late. Jaswinder Kaur Sidhu, a victim of honour killing. The decision was passed by the Bench of Hon’ble Justice Rajbir Sherawat, in the case of T-series & another versus M/s Dreamline Reality Movies & Ors, being FAO No. 6386 of 2023, on 22nd February 2024.

Jaswinder Kaur Sidhu, an Indo-Canadian, had met a tragic end on 08.06.2000, when she was murdered in Punjab Province by hired hitmen, alleged to be orchestrated by her mother and uncle. Their motive stemmed from Jaswinder's marriage to a rickshaw driver, a union they deemed disgraceful to their family's honor. The film "Dear Jassi" inspired by the said event aims to depict this story.

The legal dispute emerged when Dreamline Reality Movies (“Dreamline”) had filed a Civil Suit under Section 55 of the Copyrights Act 1957, before the Hon’ble Ludhiana District Court originally against the film-makers T-series and Wakaoo Films, alleging infringement of copyright. Dreamline claimed to have acquired copyright from Late. Jaswinder Kaur Sidhu's husband, Sukhwinder Singh, to produce a movie detailing their “love story”. In the Suit filed before the Lower Court, Dreamline claimed that the film-makers had violated the exclusive rights of Dreamline and the privacy rights of Sukhwinder Singh, who was made a Proforma Defendant in the original suit, and therefore had sought an injunction against the production, telecast, sale, or release of the film "Dear Jassi". The Hon’ble Ludhiana District Court had granted an interim injunction by way of an Order dated 23.11.2023, preventing the filmmakers from exhibiting and/or releasing the film. The Order of the Hon’ble Ludhiana District Court was challenged by the makers of the film by filing a First Appeal before the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

During the proceedings, T-series's counsel argued that since the events surrounding Jaswinder Kaur Sidhu's life were in the public domain for over two decades, no party could claim exclusive copyright or privacy rights over them. The Court was also informed that to maintain the authenticity of the film, the filmmaker had obtained rights from Mr. Fabian Dawson, in respect of his works, who had also co-authored the book “Justice for Jassi” published in 2012. Further, the Court was also informed of the events and details surrounding the tragic incident of Late. Jaswinder Kaur Sidhu had been widely published and written about in the news media and five movies have been made on the said events in the past.   

In response, the contesting Respondent's counsel argued that the central theme of the movie focused on the love affair between Jaswinder Kaur and Sukhwinder Singh, which necessitated consent from Sukhwinder Singh himself. They asserted that Dreamline had acquired exclusive rights including copyright over the events from Sukhwinder Singh before the film-makers involvement, thereby holding the exclusive rights and authority to produce the film based on the tragic events.

After thorough deliberation, the High Court deemed it fit to reject the objections raised by the contesting Respondent. Justice Rajbir Sherawat emphasized that to claim copyright, there must be an existing work of authorship, which wasn't the case with Sukhwinder Singh's life. The Court underscored that mere facts or events of human conduct couldn't be monopolized under copyright law. As the story of Jaswinder Kaur Sidhu was already part of a legally obtained literary work, and the facts that details of the events are widely reported upon and are part of the public domain the film-makers of the film “Dear Jassi” had the legal prerogative to produce the film.

Furthermore, the Court cited statutory provisions that exempt material in the public domain from copyright restrictions, thereby disfavouring Dreamline's claim of being vested with copyright and/or any exclusivity in respect of the film. Consequently, the injunction was lifted by setting aside the Lower Court Order and allowing the unrestricted production and release of "Dear Jassi" to proceed.

Case title: T-Series (also known as Super Cassettes Industries Private Limited), New Delhi & another being FAO No.6386 of 2023 decided on 22.02.2024. 

Advocates who appeared in this case

For Appellant: Mr. Amit Jhanji, Senior Advocate with Mr. Ameet Naik, Advocate; Mr. Abhinav Sood, Advocate; Advocate; Mr. Deepak Deshmukh, Advocate; Ms. Madhu Gadodia, Advocate; Ms. Anmol Gupta, Advocate; Ms. Achintya Soní, Advocate and Mr. Sujoy Mukherji, Advocate;. 

For Respondent No. 1: Mr. Sumeet Mahajan, Senior Advocate with Mr. Saksham Mahajn, Advocate and Mr. Shrey Sachdeva, Advocate