Contempt of court plea: HC orders notice to Congress leaders over use of KGF film music in Bharat Jodo Yatra

The Karnataka High Court on Friday ordered notice to Congress party general secretary Jairam Ramesh, its social media head Supriya Srinate and Rahul Gandhi in a contempt of court petition filed by the Bengaluru-based MRT Studios, which accused the Congress leaders of using music from the film KGF Chapter 2 in disregard to court orders.

The Court had, on November 8, set aside an order passed by a lower court directing Twitter to block the handles of the Indian National Congress (INC) and the party’s Bharat Jodo Yatra, over alleged infringement of copyright in the use of music.

A division bench consisting of Justices G Narendar and PM Desai had passed the order on an appeal filed by the Congress, after the party offered to remove the music from its social media platforms..


While partially allowing the appeal, the division bench had sent the matter back to the civil court and said its order would not come in the way of the plaintiff exercising its right over alleged copyright violation.

The petitioner, however, has again moved the High Court accusing the Congress leaders of not removing the music content from its social media handles in spite of a direction from the high court.

A bench of Chief Justice Prasanna B Varale and justice Ashok S Kinagi passed the order on Friday on the contempt of court petition filed by MRT Music. The matter will come up for hearing on January 12, 2023.

Last month, in an order of ex-parte injunction, the civil court had directed Twitter to take down three links from its platform, besides blocking the handles of the INC as well as the Rahul Gandhi-led Bharat Jodo Yatra.