Delhi HC to order takedown of film teaser showing Black Buck poaching case against Salman Khan

The Delhi High Court on Monday said it would pass an order directing the takedown of a teaser linked to the movie Kala Hiran: The Battle for Legacy, which reportedly depicts actor Salman Khan and also portrays the 1998 alleged Black Buck poaching case pending against him.

Justice Jyoti Singh said that she would pass an order so that such links are taken down from social media within 24 hours. If the producer fails to do so, the Court said it would direct platforms, including X and YouTube, to remove the content. 

The Court was hearing a plea filed by Salman Khan seeking the protection of his personality rights. The Court had already issued directions for the protection of such rights. He later also filed an application to ban the film Kala Hiran, which is allegedly centred on the 1998 poaching case against Khan. 

The actor has alleged that Kala Hiran portrays him as having links to the underworld and that the film’s poster is defamatory and violative of his personality rights.

He further contended that the film infringes upon his right to a fair trial in the alleged blackbuck hunting case, as proceedings related to the matter remain pending before the Rajasthan High Court and the Supreme Court.

According to Khan, the film’s poster, released on May 29, features a character bearing a close physical resemblance to him and wearing a distinctive bracelet associated with the actor.

The application also cited media reports and a press conference by film produce Amit Jani. It was argued that they leave little doubt that the film is based on the sub judice blackbuck hunting incident.

The petition pointed out that Khan initially sent a legal notice to the filmmakers. However, he alleges that Jani publicly tore up the notice during an interview available online and later posted on X that he was being threatened by Khan and the underworld.

The Court today strongly disapproved of Jani's conduct.

”What kind of contents are these. You seem to get emboldened by the fact that no order was passed last time. Your client thinks he is above the law. He is getting worse day by day ... Every minute it is on public domain it is harming the reputation of the plaintiff (Khan) here. I was mild with you but your are incorrigible ... You can’t do this even to a common man. It cannot get worse than this even for a common man."

The counsel for Jani argued that he had never claimed Salman Khan acted in the film and had merely responded to questions during interviews.

He maintained that the teaser neither names Khan nor uses deepfake or AI technology. He contended that there is no exclusive protection against depicting public events. 

"This is only a teaser, how is his personality getting infringed by this?" he submitted.

Khan’s counsel, however, argued that there was nothing left to the imagination and that the film was completely about the actor. Referring to the criminal cases against Khan, counsel submitted that he had been acquitted in three of the four cases and that the sentence in the remaining case had been suspended. 

"Do I not have a right to have a fair trial? Whole community is being pitted against me," he argued.

After briefly viewing the teaser in open court, Justice Singh remarked that the producer was committing contempt of court by portraying events that were sub judice (pending before a court of law). She reiterated the importance of protecting a person’s reputation. 

"Reputation is built with great effort; once it's lost, it's lost. Even if this is played for 24 hours, someone suffers," the Court observed.

Meanwhile, the counsel for Meta and Google submitted that the online intermediaries could not be subjected to a pre-publication injunction. The Court, however, observed that some responsibility must be fixed on internet intermediaries as well.

"As platform owners, I will have to fix some responsibility on you somewhere,” said the judge. 

The Court then directed Salman Khan's counsel to prepare a tabulated list of all allegedly infringing links, so that orders can be passed for their takedown.

Senior advocate Ravi Prakash, advocates Parag Khandhar (partner, DSK legal), Chandrima Mitra (partner, DSK legal), Tapan Radkar, Krishan Kumar, Zara Dhanboora, Nizam Pasha junior and Astu Khandelwal appeared for Khan.

Advocate Varun Pathak represented Meta.

Advocate Aditya appeared for Google.