In a significant development, the Bombay High Court disposed of a defamation suit filed by filmmaker Aditya Dhar after the defendant tendered an unconditional apology for alleged defamatory statements made during a press conference.
The case arose from statements made by Defendant in a press meeting held on March 2026, which were alleged to be per se defamatory against the plaintiff. The plaintiff approached the High Court seeking relief, including damages and restraint against such statements. Earlier, the Court had granted ad-interim relief and allowed time to the defendant to file a reply affidavit.
The counsel for the Plaintiff submitted that the statements made by the Defendant were defamatory in nature and caused harm to his reputation, and that such statements needed to be restrained to prevent further prejudice.
The Defendant, through counsel, tendered an apology before the Court for the statements made during the press conference and sought to resolve the dispute without further litigation.
The Court took note of the apology tendered and recorded the submission of the Plaintiff that he did not wish to pursue the suit further, observing that “in light of the apology tendered, the Plaintiff does not wish to precipitate the Suit for damages… nothing further survives in the Suit and the same is accordingly disposed of.” The Court also clarified that the defendant would remain at liberty to initiate appropriate legal proceedings regarding any claim related to the film script.
The Court accordingly disposed of the suit in view of the apology tendered and accepted by the Plaintiff, holding that no further issues survived for adjudication, while permitting refund of court fees and clarifying that the order would not bar any independent claims by the defendant in future.
Case Title: Aditya Dhar v. Santosh Kumar & Anr.
Case No.: Interim Application (L) No. 12102 of 2026 in Suit (L) No. 12101 of 2026
Coram: Hon’ble Mr. Justice Arif S. Doctor
Advocate for the Appellant: Dr. Birendra Saraf, Mr. Parag Khandhar, Ms. Chandrima M., Ms. Siddhi Somani, Ms. Zara D., Ms. Shweta Vora
Advocate for the Respondent: Adv. Chintan Bhura, Ms. Reeti Shetty, Ms. Charu Shukla, Mr. Harit Lakhani, Mr. Abhishek Mookherjee, Ms. Nupur Jalan, Ms. Meenaz Kakalia
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