Kangana Ranaut allowed to withdraw plea to quash 2021 FIR in Didda film case, says Bombay High Court

Kangana Ranaut allowed to withdraw plea to quash 2021 FIR in Didda film case, says Bombay High Court

• Bombay High Court lets Kangana Ranaut withdraw plea to quash FIR
• FIR relates to copyright claims over her proposed Didda film
• The legal dispute has stalled the film project since 2021

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Actor and political figure Kangana Ranaut has been granted permission by the Bombay High Court to withdraw her plea that sought to quash a First Information Report (FIR) registered against her back in 2021, according to a recent court order. The FIR was related to allegations by an author over the proposed use of historical material in a film project she had announced but which never materialised.

The case dates to January 2021 when a criminal complaint was filed at the Khar police station in Mumbai by Ashish Kaul, the author of a book on the life of Princess Didda — a historical figure known as the Queen of Kashmir.

Ashish Kaul maintained that he had exclusive copyrights to the life story depicted in his book, which had also been translated into Hindi as Kashmir Ki Yodhha Rani Didda. He claimed that portions of his story had been used without permission in social media posts by Ranaut when she announced her intention to make a film titled Manikarnika Returns: The Legend of Didda.

Soon after the announcement on social media, Ashish served notices to Kangana and the film project was shelved. However, a chargesheet was filed and the FIR continued to be in place, leading to Ranaut’s earlier legal efforts to have it quashed at its inception. Her fresh petition in the Bombay High Court essentially sought the same relief as the earlier one filed in 2021, prompting the court to note the duplicative nature of the two petitions.

On Wednesday, the bench allowed Kangana to withdraw the latest petition. This move effectively lets the underlying FIR stand while removing her attempt to strike it down through the High Court. The underlying legal dispute over the claimed copyright rights and the proposed film’s announcement had stalled further development on the film project itself.

Kangana Ranaut’s contention in court included statements that her sister, Rangoli Chandel, had received an unsolicited email discussing Didda’s history, but that it was ignored, prompting further debate over the source of inspiration for the proposed script. The film announcement triggered the author’s action, and the case has since proceeded in a lower court even as the quashing petition ran its course.