Delhi HC halts ₹2 crore penalty against AR Rahman
What's the story
The Delhi High Court has stayed an interim ruling against legendary music director AR Rahman in a copyright case. The division bench stayed the order till May 23. The ruling in question was passed by a single judge in a copyright infringement suit filed by classical singer Ustad Faiyaz Wasifuddin Dagar. The suit relates to the song composition Veera Raja Veera for the Tamil movie Ponniyin Selvan 2 (PS2).
Court's order
The court's directive on the deposit and stay application
The bench, consisting of Justices C Hari Shankar and Ajay Digpaul, asked Rahman to deposit ₹2 crore with the high court's registry. The court said, "Given the nature of the dispute, we list for disposal in the supplementary list at 2:30pm on May 23." "As the copyright matter has been in public domain since 2023, we stay the operation of the injunction granted till the next date of hearing."
Previous ruling
Justice Prathiba M Singh's ruling on Rahman's song
The court's order came on a plea filed by Rahman against Justice Prathiba M Singh's April 25 ruling. In her 117-page ruling, Justice Singh had observed that Rahman's song Veera Raja Veera was "identical" to Shiva Stuti, an age-old Dhrupad by the late Ustad Nasir Zahiruddin Dagar and Ustad Nasir Faiyazuddin Dagar (the junior Dagar brothers). She ordered Rahman and the filmmakers to amend the song credits to credit the late Dagar brothers.
Copyright protection
'Every work/composition follows basic principles of said genre but...'
Justice Singh ruled that compositions in Hindustani classical music are protected under the Copyright Act, as long as they are the composer's original work. She concluded, "Every work or composition which is made in a particular genre or Raga, or style follows the basic principles of the said genre or Raga. It cannot, however, be said that because they follow a particular discipline, there cannot be any originality in the same."