HC refuses relief to gangster Chhota Rajan over plea seeking stay on release of web series

The jailed gangster had on Thursday moved the court against the web series

The Bombay High Court on Friday refused to grant any urgent relief to jailed gangster Rajendra Nikalje alias Chhota Rajan, who had filed a plea against web series, “Scoop”, noting that the series was already released on Netflix.

A Vacation Bench of Justice S.G. Dige directed the makers and producers of the series, including Hansal Mehta and Netflix Entertainment Services India on whose platform the series had been released, to file their affidavits in response to Rajan's plea by June 7.

The jailed gangster had on Thursday moved the court against the web series, saying that the “use or misuse of the attributes of his personality” without his prior consent, amounted to infringement of his “personality rights” as well as defamation.

When the court was informed that the series had been released and all the six episodes were available, Rajan's advocate Mihir Desai said the makers could be directed to remove his name and image from the series.

Justice Dige, however, refused to pass an order granting any relief to Rajan.

“The series is already released. All the episodes are published. We will see on the next date. Let reply affidavits be filed by all the defendants. List the matter on June 7,” the court said.

The Bench also permitted Rajan to amend his suit to change the relief sought by him and justify how it was a matter of intellectual property rights.