Dhurandhar plagiarism row: Court restrains writer from calling Aditya Dhar 'chor'

Mumbai,UPDATED: Apr 8, 2026 19:01 IST

Granting relief to Dhurandhar writer-director Aditya Dhar, the Bombay High Court on Wednesday restrained a writer named Santosh Kumar from calling him a "chor".

Dhar has filed a defamation case against Kumar, who is a writer by profession and had called a press conference claiming that Dhar had allegedly stolen his work.

Advocate Birendra Saraf, representing Dhar, submitted before the bench of Justice Arif Doctor on Wednesday that Kumar was welcome to file legal proceedings against Dhar for what he claims to be the stealing of his script, but Kumar can't call Dhar a "chor". "I just want that he should not make allegations against me (Dhar)," stressed Saraf.

Saraf took the court through the transcript of the press conference held by Kumar and said, "He himself is saying that he had never shown the script to me, but he alleges theft of script by me."

He himself is saying that there is a difference between his script and my script and that there is a broad connection. Dhurandhar is ultimately from a genre of a film, and these are stories that have been going on for time immemorial."

The bench said that it would issue notice to Kumar and hear the matter further after he is present.

However, Saraf requested ad interim relief, praying that the court protect Dhar "only for words chori and theft."

The bench agreed and, in its order, specified that until the next date, Kumar is restrained from calling Dhar a thief or using words of a similar nature. The court noted that Kumar was neither personally present nor had made an appearance through a lawyer, and so issued a notice to him.

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