Patna, Nov. 1: The high court on Friday stayed further proceedings in Barh civil court against actor Aamir Khan in connection with a copyright case against his film Peepli Live.

Justice Hemant Kumar Srivastava passed the order on a petition filed by Khan, through his counsel Saket Tiwary, challenging the summons order issued by the civil court.

The bench also issued notice to the complainant Raj Kishore Unmukta alias Raj Kishore Singh, on whose case the lower court issued summons to Khan.

Singh, a resident of Station Road in Barh, had filed a complaint before Judicial Magistrate first class in Barh court alleging that the noted actor has based his movie Peepli Live on his poem Gabarua.

Taking Singh’s plea into account, the civil court issued summons to Khan and other co-accused on February 29, 2012.

Later, the court issued a bailable warrant to the actor and the other co-accused on April 4, 2013, which was executed by Khar police station on September 25, 2013, and Khan (the petitioner) was released after producing a surety.

Khan, who was supposed to appear before the civil court at Barh on Saturday (November 2), approached the high court seeking quashing of the complaint case filed at Barh civil court with regard to his film. The petition also sought staying of further proceedings in the Barh civil court.

Khan’s counsel Saket Tiwary submitted in his petition that the complaint is solely based on a poem Gabarua, allegedly written by Raj Kishore Unmukta alias Raj Kishore Singh, who has filed criminal complaint (no. 163/2011) in the Barh court against the petitioner (Khan) and co-accused alleging infringement of the Copyright Act, 1957 for making Peepli Live.

It is alleged in the complaint that the film produced by Khan (the petitioner) is based on the plot of the story of the said poem that Unmukta claims to have written, the petition said.

Unmukta, the complainant, has further stated that he is the sole copyright owner of his work Gabarua and by converting his work into the said film, the writer/screen player/director Anusha Rizvi as well as the producers Aamir Khan and Kiran Rao have committed offence of infringement of copyright under the provisions of the Copyright Act, 1957, it further said.

On August 13, 2010, the film was released across India and on January 26, 2011, the complainant saw the film at his home on ZEE Cinema and found the said film to be an adaptation of the said poem and hence decided to file a complaint against Khan.