‘Trial By Fire’ Will Be Ban Or Release On OTT: Delhi HC Reserves Its Order

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday reserved its order on a suit moved by real estate baron Sushil Ansal against the release of the web series “Trial by Fire”.

The upcoming Web series ‘Trial by Fire”, is based on the 1997 Uphar Cinema fire tragedy, and is scheduled for release on Netflix on January 13.

A known Businessman Sushil Ansal, who was convicted in the Upahar Tragedy case, through a suit, sought a permanent and mandatory injunction restraining the production company and others from releasing the limited web series, which is listed for release on January 13, 2023, on the OTT platform Netflix.

Justice Yashwant Varma, after hearing arguments for over one-and-a-half-hour, reserved an order in the matter.

Senior advocate Siddharth Aggarwal, appearing for the Plaintiff Sushil Ansal, submitted that the plaintiff was held guilty under Section 304A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) — causing death by negligence and not murder. Further, he added that “this movie is about how my client is a mass murderer and not what he has been found guilty of,”.

Ansal’s counsel further argued, “They directly attack my personality. They call me directly by my name. There can’t be a more direct attack on my personality. My name is there in the web series.” Ansal’s plea was vehemently opposed by the counsel for producers of the web series, Netflix, and authors of the book — Neelam and Shekhar Krishnamoorthy — who lost their two children in the fire tragedy.

In his plea, Ansal said he has been “punished both legally and socially” and the release of the series, which is stated to be based on the book written by a couple who lost their two children to the fire, would cause irreparable harm to his reputation and breach his right to privacy.”It is well settled that negligence excluded mens rea and therefore, to call the Plaintiff a ‘murderer’ and a killer in the Impugned Book is grossly defamatory and wilfully false,” the court noted.

Senior advocate Vikas Pahwa, appearing for Upahar Tragedy Victims Association (UPTVA), has challenged the trial court’s order on sentence and sought enhancement of the jail term from the period already undergone to the original sentence of seven years awarded to the convicts earlier.

Senior advocate Rajiv Nayar, who represented Netflix, submitted there has been a delay on Ansal’s part to approach the court in the present case. Nayar said, “A book which was in the public domain since 2016 is being given a character in a picture (show). The concept of the book has been transformed into a film(show). Courts have deprecated injunctions on the basis of teasers. On September 19, 2016, the book was released. On January 4, when the official trailer was released, the plaintiff did not approach the court, Nayar said, adding that it only did so on January 10 “when we are scheduled to release it on January 13, 2023”.

The bestseller Trial By Fire: The Tragic Tale of the Uphaar Fire Tragedy’ was written by Neelam Krishnamoorthy and Shekhar Krishnamoorthy. The Netflix series stars Rajshri Deshpande and Abhay Deol as the authors Neelam and Shekhar.

Businessman Sushil Ansal also sought restraint of further publication and circulation of the book, published by Penguin Random House Ltd.

The suit further stated that the ‘impugned series’ is said to be based on true events pertaining to the tragic fire that took place on June 13, 1997, at Uphaar Cinema in Green Park, New Delhi. The official teaser/trailer for the series was released on January 4, with direct references to the plaintiff and the dramatized role of the plaintiff in the said incident and its aftermath, the suit said.

On 13.06.1997 a fire broke out in the erstwhile Uphaar Cinema at Green Park, New Delhi owing to which 59 people lost their lives and over 100 were injured. A fire had broken out at the Uphaar cinema during the screening of the Hindi film ‘Border’

Sushil Ansal, along with his brother and several others, were convicted in the case that came to be known as the ‘Uphaar tragedy’. Owners of the infamous Uphaar Cinema, Gopal and Sushil Ansal were sentenced to a year of prison after they were found guilty of causing deaths