'Black Friday' Judgement Not Applicable To 'Mumbai Saga' : Bombay High Court Refuses '11th Hour' Plea To Stay Film Release

Bohra, along with the family members of late gangster Amar Naik and gangster Ashwin Naik's, have alleged that the film based on their lives violates their right to a fair trial, right to life and liberty under Article 21 of the Constitution.

A division bench of Justices AA Sayyed and Madhav Jamdar refused to grant ad-interim dismissed the petition filed at the "11^th hour," after recording respondents' statement that the movie was only 'inspired by true events,' and there was a clear disclaimer to the effect at the beginning of the film.

The bench observed that Mushtaq Moosa Tarani vs. Government of India & Ors. 2005 SCC Online Bom 385 's judgement against the release of the movie 'Black Friday' would not be applicable in the present case.

In that case it was an admitted position that the film was based on [a] book which claimed to be the true story of the Bombay bomb blasts and the characters therein also had same names as that of the characters on which it was based.

It is not in dispute that the Petitioner Nos.2 and 3 were aware about making of the movie since March 2019 and even addressed a legal notice dated 06/03/2019 through their Advocate.

Senior Counsel Birendra Saraf instructed by Naik Naik & Co and appearing on behalf of producers White Feather Films and Mangal Murti Films Pvt Ltd submitted that the petitioners had approached the MCOC Court but were not granted any reliefs.

"This fact has not been disclosed in the Writ Petition", the bench noted.

The court then posted the writ petition for hearing on April 29, 2021.

The petition

The petition filed through advocates Prashant Pandey, Tushar Halwai and Ashray Dave said that the films trailer published on YouTube on February 26, 2021 clearly states that the film was "inspired by true events".

It states that a legal notice was sent on March 6, calling upon them to desist from going ahead with the scheduled release of the movie as Bohra and Ashwin Naik are under-trial prisoners and release of the film will prejudice their pending trials.

Late gangster Amar Naik's wife, Anjali, and daughter Akaksha, claimed that the release of the film would ruin their family's image and will also breach their right to privacy and the reputation they rebuilt following his death.