Copyright Case: Karnataka HC stays FIR against Rahul Gandhi, Jairam Ramesh & Supriya Srinate

The Karnataka High Court on Friday stayed an FIR registered by the Bengaluru Police against Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi, Jairam Ramesh and Supriya Srinate in a case of copyright infringement.

The Yeshwantpur Police had, in November, registered an FIR on a complaint from MRT Music accusing the Congress leaders of using a song from the movie `KGF Chapter 2’in the Bharat Jodo Yatra campaigns without permission.

Justice Sunil Dutt Yadav stayed the investigation in the FIR till further orders after hearing arguments from the counsels from both sides. The police had registered an FIR under relevant sections of the IPC, Information Technology Act, 2000 and Copyrights Act, 1957.


Senior advocate AS Ponnanna said the said audio had already been taken down by the party from its official social media handles as per the undertaking it had submitted to the court earlier. He also submitted to the court that the party did not use it for any commercial purpose.

The senior advocate said there was no cognisable offence made out in the complaint. The police had deliberately invoked the IPC sections though the allegation fell under the Copyrights Act, 1957 and a remedy had been sought under the civil law.

Senior advocate MS Shyamsundar told the court that the Congress party had not taken down the songs from its official handles after giving an undertaking to the court. The MRT Music had filed a separate contempt petition before the court about this.