The Delhi high court on January 12 rejected a petition moved by real estate baron Sushil Ansal seeking an ad interim stay on the release of web series Trial By Fire, based on the 1997 Uphaar cinema fire tragedy in Delhi. The court said that the incident had made the “nation bow its head in shame”.
In his petition, Ansal, who owned Uphaar cinema, alleged that the show and the book on which it is based defamed him and violated his right to privacy.
The single judge bench of Justice Yashwant Varma said, “A fictional rendition of the trials and tribulations of parents who lost their teenaged children in the fire disaster cannot, prima facie, be presumed to be defamatory.” The judge observed that the OTT series alleges a systemic failure, manifests a cry of anguish against the manner in which the incident was prosecuted and tried, represents the perspective of people who lost their close ones. He added, “More fundamentally, their personal experience and perception of the incident or the culpability of the plaintiff would remain their belief, impression and understanding of the entire episode.”