Real estate magnate Sushil Ansal on Tuesday told the Delhi High Court that he wants to withdraw his plea seeking to stay release of the upcoming Netflix series “Trial By Fire”, which is based on the 1997 Uphaar Cinema fire tragedy.
The High Court, on January 12, refused to stay the release of the series, which released the next day
For the pleadings to be completed, the plea was placed before Joint Registrar, Judicial, Vandana Jain on Tuesday.
Ansal’s counsel said that he wishes to withdraw the present suit and requests for placing the matter before the court.
The Joint Registrar listed the matter for April 17 for further directions before the bench which had passed the interim order.
A single-bench judge of Justice Yashwant Varma was dealing with the case seeking interim relief.
Ansal had filed a suit seeking permanent and mandatory injunction against the series and a restraint of further publication and circulation of the book titled “Trial By Fire – The tragic tale of the Uphaar Tragedy” by Neelam and Shekhar Krishnamoorthy, who lost their two young children in the 1997 catastrophe.
Representing Ansal, senior advocate Siddharth Aggarwal had stated that Ansal’s real name is used three times in the trailer, hurting his reputation and other rights, despite the series’ warning that it is a piece of fiction.
In response, Justice Varma had said: “This may be their critique of their judgment and anguish of the parents, but it cannot be a claim for defamation.”
Senior advocate Vikas Pahwa had argued on behalf of Krishnamoorthy that Ansal was previously aware of the book’s publishing because it was mentioned in a 2012 plea presented to the Supreme Court.
Ansal has contended that the publication of the contested series will further harm him and will constitute a major violation of his fundamental rights, particularly his right to privacy.
Recently, the High Court issued a notice to Sushil Ansal and his brother Gopal Ansal and other convicts on a revision petition by the state challenging a trial court’s order of reducing their sentence from seven years to eight months for allegedly tampering with evidence in the 1997 Uphaar Cinema fire tragedy case.