Madras Hight Court stays criminal proceedings against Pachamuthu's sons

Chennai: On a day when police detained T.R. Pachamuthu, chancellor of SRM University, the Madras high court came to the rescue of his two sons in a criminal proceedings initiated by Sun TV Network.

When a petition filed by his sons, Ravi Pachamuthu and Sathyanarayana Pachamuthu, Directors of Trac Media Private Limited, came up, Justice P.N.Prakash granted an interim stay of the proceedings against them pending before a trial court. The proceedings had been initiated by the television network.

The petitioners submitted Sun TV Network filed nine complaints against them for alleged infringement under Copyright Act for telecasting a song from Tamil film ‘Aambala’ in a television channel owned by them on March 5 and 6, 2015. Sun TV claims it owns the copyright of the film, including the songs by virtue of an assignment agreement dated January 5, 2015 executed by Vishal Film Factory and it moved criminal proceedings against Trac Media and its directors.

The duo alleged that the complaints were false and baseless. They were only the directors of the company which day-to-day affairs, including programme management, was entrusted to a separate department and they have no role in the telecast or the alleged infringement of copyright.

The petitioners sought a stay of all further proceedings before XXIII Metropolitan Magistrate Court, Saidapet and quash the criminal proceedings. They also prayed the court to dispense with their appearance before the trial court pending disposal of the petition.

While ordering interim stay, Justice P.N. Prakash, dispensed with their personal appearance. He directed them to surrender before the trial court in two weeks. They should be released on bail after their surrender on executing a bond for Rs 10,000 and two sureties.