The Bombay High Court on Wednesday declined to stay the over-the-top (OTT) release of the web series “The Railway Men – The Untold Story of Bhopal 1984,” produced by Yash Raj Films and set to be released on November 18.
The series, inspired by the Bhopal Gas Tragedy of 1984, faced opposition from former Union Carbide India Pvt Ltd employees Satya Prakash Choudhry and J Mukund.
Choudhry and Mukund, convicted in the gas leakage case from the Union Carbide factory in Bhopal, had sought an injunction after the Bombay City Civil Court rejected their plea on November 10. They aimed to exclude references to the tragic events surrounding the Bhopal Gas Tragedy, the circumstances prevailing inside the pesticides factory and the MIC plant shortly before, at the time of, and immediately after the gas leakage, and the manner gas leakage led to the death of thousands.
The former employees argued that Yash Raj Films had initially given the impression of addressing their concerns during a meeting in 2021/2022. However, the production house announced the series release on OTT on November 18 without addressing their objections. The appellants contended that the portrayal of events in the web series could adversely impact the judicial proceedings against them.
Yash Raj Films’ counsel countered, asserting that the series was fictional and inspired by real events, not a documentary or a factual account. The vacation bench of Justice Arif Doctor dismissed the plea for stay, deeming it “prima facie untenable.”
The judge said the appellants are already convicted in the Bhopal Gas Tragedy case, the trial concluded way back in 2010, and the disclaimer which will precede the airing of the web series would be in terms of caveat that it is a work of fiction, inspired by real events.
Justice Doctor stated, “Given this, I find that the appellants have, in my view at this stage, not satisfied the very high threshold test required to stay the release of the said web series.” The vacation bench also took into consideration that the production house in November 2022 had informed the two former Union Carbide employees that the web series was ready, but they chose to approach the court only on November 8, 2023 – two days after its second teaser was released.
(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the LatestLaws staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Source Link
Picture Source :
