In a significant relief for renowned Tamil film director S Shankar, the Madras High Court has put a stay on the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) order that provisionally attached three of his properties worth over ₹10 crore. The attachment was linked to a copyright dispute under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), but the court has questioned the necessity of such action before the resolution of the underlying complaint.
The order, issued by the ED on February 17, was challenged by S Shankar, leading to the court’s intervention. A bench comprising Justice M S Ramesh and Justice N Senthilkumar, after hearing the plea, directed the ED to file its counter-arguments and scheduled the next hearing for April 21. The stay offers temporary relief to Shankar, who had been contesting the copyright allegations levied against him.
The case stems from a complaint filed by writer Aarur Tamilnadan, who alleged that S Shankar’s 2010 Tamil blockbuster Enthiran, starring Rajinikanth and Aishwarya Rai, was plagiarized from his story Jugiba. The complaint was filed in the Egmore magistrate court in Chennai, leading to legal scrutiny over the film’s originality. Since copyright-related offences are considered scheduled offences under the PMLA, the ED acted on the complaint and issued the property attachment order.
However, the Madras High Court has raised concerns over the ED’s approach in the matter. It questioned whether the agency could initiate proceedings based solely on an individual’s complaint without awaiting the court’s decision on the alleged copyright violation. The judges also pointed out that since the criminal complaint had already been stayed for three years, there was no immediate justification for attaching the properties.
This is not the first time the copyright dispute has been addressed in court. In June 2023, a single-judge bench of the Madras High Court had dismissed Tamilnadan’s plea against S Shankar, ruling that there was no substantial evidence to support the copyright claim. The court also emphasized that copyright cannot be claimed over a mere idea or concept, reinforcing S Shankar’s defense against plagiarism accusations.
With the latest stay order, the legal battle over Enthiran’s originality continues, but for now, S Shankar has secured a reprieve. The ED’s next course of action will be closely watched as the case progresses in court.
