KGF music in Congress video; HC reserves petition challenging FIR against Rahul Gandhi and others

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru

The High Court of Karnataka on Friday completed the hearing of the arguments in the petition filed by Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi, Jairam Ramesh and Supriya Shrinate and reserved the judgement.

They have challenged the FIR filed against them filed under Sections 120B (criminal conspiracy), 403 (dishonest misappropriation), 465 (forgery) read with Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code and Section 63 (copyright infringement in course of trade or business) of the Copyright Act and Section 66 of the Information Technology Act for allegedly copying the music from the film KGF Chapter 2 and using it on a video featuring Rahul Gandhi during the Bharat Jodo Yatra.

Justice M Nagaprasanna completed arguments made by senior advocate Vikram Huilgol on behalf of the Congress party leaders and senior advocates S Sriranga and Pranav Kumar appearing for the complainant.

The HC on Friday also extended the stay on the proceedings in the criminal case till the judgment is announced. M Naveen Kumar of MRT Music, a sister concern of Lahari Music, had filed the complaint alleging that the music from the film KGF Chapter 2 to which it has the copyright was used by the Congress party in a promotional video of the Bharat Jodo Yatra.

 MRT Music had also approached a Commercial court against the copyright violation which had directed the blocking of the social media handles of the Congress party. It was subsequently revoked by the HC after assurances by the party that the offending videos would be removed.