SC stays contempt proceedings against Netflix in HC for showing 'Wild Karnataka' documentary
Netflix, the Supreme Court on Thursday stayed the contempt proceedings initiated by the Karnataka High Court against the OTT platform for showing documentary — 'Wild Karnataka'-- despite a judicial order restraining its streaming. A bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and justices JB Pardiwala and Satish Chandra Sharma took note of the submissions of the Indian arm of the «over-the-top» (OTT) platform and asked the high court not to proceed with the contempt proceedings against it for the time being.
Earlier, the high court had framed civil contempt charges against various broadcasters including BBC, Discovery and Netflix in a case where the filmmakers and broadcasters were accused of disobeying a 2021 interim order of the court regarding the release and telecast of the documentary.
«How can Netflix be held for contempt? The footage was immediately removed.
The Karnataka High Court has so many important matters. Why pursue a contempt case against Netflix?» the CJI orally observed while staying the contempt proceedings against the OTT giant.
The case pertained to an interim order passed by the high court on June 29, 2021 on the plea of Ravindra N Redkar and Ullash Kumar.
It prohibited the filmmakers and platforms involved from engaging in any use, publication, reproduction, broadcasting, telecasting, marketing, selling, or dealing with the film and its raw footage obtained from the forest department.
As per the details of the case, Mudskipper Labs and ITV Studios Global had approached Kalyan Varma and Amoghavarsha to film a documentary in 2014.
After signing a Memorandum of Understanding with the Karnataka Forest Department (KFD) to shoot a documentary, the accused allegedly used the services of the KFD
