DSK Legal advised Karan Johar and Dharmatic Entertainment successfully before the Calcutta High Court

DSK Legal advised Karan Johar and Dharmatic Entertainment successfully before the Calcutta High Court

DSK Legal advised, assisted and represented Mr. Karan Johar, Dharmatic Entertainment and 2 Others ("clients") before the Hon'ble Calcutta High Court ("High Court") in Public Interest Litigation ("PIL") filed by one Ms. Nazia Elahi Khan against DSK Legal's clients, amongst others.

Brief Facts:

This PIL was filed by Petitioner in relation to talk show "Koffee With Karan" hosted and presented by the firm's client Mr. Karan Johar which was being aired on OTT Platform "Disney Hotstar". In this PIL, allegations were raised inter-alia contending that the talk show "Koffee With Karan" was promoting racism, sexuality and obscenity through words or visible representation. Hence, a writ of mandamus was sought by Petitioner directing Respondent Nos. 2, 3 and 4 (who were Police Authorities) to take/initiate criminal proceedings against the clients and Disney Hotstar Platform.

Brief Contentions:

Preliminary objection about maintainability of Petition was raised by DSK Legal team and counsels for other parties.

In view of preliminary objection being raised, Division bench of Calcutta High Court comprising of Hon'ble Chief Justice Prakash Shrivastava and Hon'ble Justice Rajarshi Bharadwaj heard the counsels for the parties on maintainability of Petition on 5th December, 2022.

After hearing the parties, Court has passed on order dated holding that, "Having, regard to nature of controversy involved in the matter, we find that object of filing the present public interest litigation is to gain publicity.."

Hence, Court dismissed the said PIL vide its aforesaid order dated 5th December, 2022

DSK Legal Team:

The DSK team comprised of Mr. Anand Desai (Managing Partner), Ms. Chandrima Mitra (Partner), Mr. Parag Khandhar (Partner) and Ms. Pranita Saboo (Senior Associate).

Counsels Mr. Sakya Sen and Mr Rajarshi Dutta were briefed by DSK Legal along with advocate on record Mr. Ranjit Basu and Ms. Shebatee Datta.

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