Karnataka HC sets aside lower court order to suspend Twitter handles of Congress, Bharat Jodo Yatra

The copyright case

The company had filed the case over the alleged violation of copyrights held by it for music from KGF.

The Bengaluru-based firm claimed in a statement that the Congress had used the music in “advertisement videos featuring Rahul Gandhi” for its Bharat Jodo Yatra “without seeking any permissions”.

The music label’s counsel Narasimhan Sampath said in a statement that the Congress “created a video by unlawfully downloading and synchronising and broadcasting the songs pertaining to the movie KGF – Chapter 2 in Hindi”.

He also noted the use of the Bharat Jodo Yatra logo in the video.

However, he added: “MRT Music has filed the present complaint only to enforce its statutory rights and has no intentions to tarnish the image of any political party.”

The Congress reaction

The Congress was quick to react to the civil court order to block the handles.

It said in a tweet from the official handle that it had been made aware of the Bengaluru court’s order about the blocking of the Twitter handles.

It added: “We were not informed about the proceedings, nor were we present in the court.”

It also said the respondents named in the case — including Rahul Gandhi himself — had received a copy of the order.

The party was thus seeking legal recourse, it said. Read the full tweet here:

मीडिया से यह पता चला है कि बेंगलुरु कोर्ट ने @INCindia और 'BJY' के सोशल मीडिया हैंडल को ब्लॉक करने का आदेश दिया है।

हमें इस कार्यवाही के बारे में सूचित नहीं किया गया, ना हम कोर्ट में उपस्थित थे, ना ही आदेश की कॉपी मिली है।

हम कानूनी सलाह ले रहे हैं।

भारत जोड़ो यात्रा जिंदाबाद!

— Congress (@INCIndia) November 7, 2022