High court relief for authors of book

The Bombay High Court has stayed summons issued to S Hussain Zaidi and Jane Borges, authors of the book ‘Mafia Queens of Mumbai’, on which the movie Gangubai Kathiawadi is based.

A metropolitan magistrate had issued summons to Zaidi and Borges on a defamation complaint filed by one Babuji Shah, who claims to be adopted the son of Kathiawadi. According to Shah, the book has defamed his mother, tarnished her image and infringed upon her right to privacy.

Zaidi and Borges had approached the HC challenging the summons.

Justice Revati Dere, on Tuesday, stayed the summons till October 10 and issued a notice to Shah.

The authors advocate Gunjan Mangala argued that the book was released on April 8, 2011, whereas the complaint has been filed only in February 2021. The book has been in the public domain for over a decade and the complaint has been filed now, said Mangala.

She argued that Shah had failed to inform the magistrate that the Mumbai city civil court had dismissed his suit in February 2021, seeking restraining order against the authors from publishing, selling or creating third party rights on their novel.

On August 10, the HC had stayed criminal proceedings initiated against actor Alia Bhat and director and producer Sanjay Leela Bhansali by a local court in a criminal defamation complaint filed in connection with the movie ‘Gangubai Kathiawadi’.

In March, a metropolitan magistrate had issued summons to Bhat, Bhansali and his production company Bhansali Production Pvt Ltd on a defamation complaint filed by Shah. Their counsel, Aabad Ponda had argued that their movie was based on the book which was published a decade ago. Also, they had no knowledge of the existence of Shah.The HC had even refused to stay the release of the movie on an application filed by Shah.