King Khan gets relief from Gujarat High Court, High Court quashes lower court order in 8-year-old case

Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan has got relief from the Gujarat High Court in an 8-year-old case. Latif's heirs filed a defamation case against Shah Rukh for Raees film, demanding Rs 101 crores against the producer of Raees film. Shah Rukh Khan, Red Chillies Entertainment and others challenged the claim in the Gujarat High Court.

Shah Rukh Khan has got relief from the Gujarat High Court in this case. The Gujarat High Court has set aside a lower court's order allowing the heirs of gangster Abdul Latif to be joined as plaintiffs. After this order of the High Court, the makers of Shahrukh Khan, Raees have got relief. As per the order of the High Court, the trial court was directed to reduce the names of the plaintiffs in the original suit within three days.

What was the whole case?

The film Raees released in the year 2017 was based on the story of Gujarat gangster Abdul Latif. After the release of the film, Latif's family filed a defamation suit of Rs 101 crore in a civil court for tarnishing their family's image. After which the makers of Red Chillies and other Raees challenged this claim in the Gujarat High Court.

Earlier in the case, the lower court had allowed Latif's heirs to join the defamation suit for damages of Rs 101 crore. Shah Rukh and others filed a petition in the High Court challenging the lower court order.

In this film, Shahrukh Khan played a character based on the role of Abdul Latif. In 2016, Latif's son Mushtaq Sheikh sued for defamation after watching the trailer of the film and with 18 percent interest of Rs. 101 crore was sought as damages. Latif's son alleged that his father's image has been tarnished by the film.

The High Court set aside the order of the lower court

During this case, Latif's son died on 6 July 2020. After which his widow wife and both daughters filed an application on 27 April 2022 to be included as defendants in the defamation suit. Which was upheld by the Civil Court of Ahmedabad and included him as a plaintiff. After which the order of the lower court was challenged in the Gujarat High Court by Shah Rukh Khan, the producer of Raees and Red Chillies Entertainment. In which the court noted that the action for damages is extinguished as soon as the person dies. Therefore the heirs of the deceased do not have the right to sue for defamation.