Bengaluru court asks Twitter to block handles of Cong, Bharat Jodo Yatra

A Bengaluru court on Monday (November 7) directed Twitter to temporarily block the accounts of the Congress party and Bharat Jodo Yatra (BJY) for alleged copyright infringement. The party and BJY have been accused of infringing on statutory copyright owned by MRT Music by illegally using music from the film KGF Chapter-2 during the padayatra, which completed its Karnataka leg last week.

The Congress and the BJY team have extensively used Twitter to connect with the masses, share information on the yatra. Blocking their handles is expected to throw a spanner in the works.

FIR filed over 2 videos

The complaint was lodged by M Naveen Kumar, who manages MRT Music, and an FIR was lodged against Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi, Jairam Ramesh and Supriya Shrinate at Yeshwanthpur Police Station. The FIR was registered under the provisions of the Copyright Act, the Information Technology Act and the Indian Penal Code. 

According to the complainant, Ramesh had posted two videos of the yatra on his official Twitter handle, in which hit numbers from KGF-2 were used without permission.  Further, the BJY campaign videos have songs from KGF-2, said the complaint.

“MRT Music also has invested huge sums of money to acquire classic old music to one of the latest and one of the biggest movies of the year KGF Chapter 2…However the Indian National Congress has picked up the songs from this movie and without seeking MRT Music’s permission/licence in any manner whatsoever has used these songs to create their marketing videos of their very latest Bharat Jodo Yatra campaign featuring Rahul Gandhi,” said the company in a statement.

“Police has proceeded to register a FIR in Crime no. 362/2022 for offences punishable under sections 403, 465 and 120B r/w Section 34 of the IPC and under Section 66 of the Information Technology Act, 2000 and under Section 63 Copyrights Act, 1957,” it added.

‘Blatant disregard for law’

MRT Music’s counsel said: “The INC has created a video by unlawfully downloading and synchronising and broadcasting the songs pertaining to the movie KGF – Chapter 2 in Hindi and portraying it to be owned by the INC.  They have also used a logo namely ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ in the said video and have broadcasted the same on their official social media handles.

 “These unlawful actions committed by a national political party reflect their blatant disregard to the rule of law and the rights of private individuals.” 

Naveen Kumar said: “To our utter shock, we recently came across videos…wherein videos featuring Mr Rahul Gandhi, Member, Steering Committee, Indian National Congress, without seeking our permission/licence have used them to further their own political agenda and for marketing and publicity…An entity such as the INC has to set an example for the Indian citizens, however in this scenario, it itself is violating the laws of the land and infringing our copyright and intellectual property rights, which we have acquired through huge investments.”