The high court of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh has stayed further proceedings in a criminal defamation complaint filed against producers Aditya Dhar and Lokesh Dhar, and director Aditya Suhas Jambhale in connection with the 2024 film Article 370. The order was passed after the film’s producers filed a petition challenging the criminal complaint as well as the pre-cognisance summons issued to them by the Forest Magistrate, Srinagar, arguing that the mandatory legal procedure had not been followed. The producers also argued that there was nothing on record to show that the statement of the complainant or those of the witnesses had been recorded.
A complaint had been filed by Ghulam Mohammad Shah in Srinagar, alleging that the producers and filmmaker used his photograph in a scene of Article 370, depicting him as a terrorist, thereby harming his reputation. He approached the Magistrate seeking initiation of criminal prosecution. The Magistrate, in turn, issued pre-cognisance summons on December 30, 2025, directing the makers to appear before the court on February 7, 2026.