[Manikarnika: The Legend of Didda copyright Row] FIR Against Kangana Ranaut And Others For Copyright Infringement

An FIR was registered at the Khar Police Station, following an order of the Metropolitan Magistrate Court in Bandra on March 9, 2021, under section 156(3) of the CrPC.

The Magistrate's order was based on a private criminal complaint by Kaul. The FIR is registered under sections 406 (criminal breach of trust), 120 (criminal conspiracy) & 34(common intention) of the IPC and sections 51 (copyright infringement) of the Copyright Act, punishable under sections 63 & 63A.

Justice Sarang Kotwal in a recent judgement held sections 63 of the Copyrights Act to be cognisable and non-bailable as the punishment can extend up to three years.

Ashish Kaul is the former Group Executive Vice President of Zee Network. He has claimed he is the sole copyright owner of the unique story and the biopic of Didda who was the Princess of Lohar (Poonch), now in Jammu & Kashmir, 'The Cleopatra of Kashmir' who ruled for over five decades, directly and indirectly during the 10th and 11th centuries.

Last month Ranaut took to Twitter to announce that she was all set to return with a sequel to the 2019 film, Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi. She said the new film would be titled Manikarnika: The Legend of Didda. According to news reports, the movie will chronicle the life of Didda.

Incidentally, Kaul claimed in his complaint that he had approached Kangana to write a foreword for the Hindi version of the book, 'Didda - Kashmir Ki Yodha Rani' which is yet to release. Kaul's work also includes a film Streedesh - The forgotten women of Kashmir that includes Queen Didda and was premiered by Indira Gandhi Centre for the Arts