Delhi HC Orders Rogue Websites To Suspend Streaming Of ‘Drishyam: The Conclusion’

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court has granted an ad interim ex parte injunction restraining nine rogue websites from communicating, hosting or streaming the upcoming film Drishyam: The Conclusion without authorisation. The court also directed domain name registrars and other concerned defendants to suspend the offending domain names within 72 hours of receiving notice from the plaintiff.

Justice Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav was hearing a commercial suit, CS(COMM) 1083/2026, filed by Digital18 Media Private Limited. The suit is primarily against defendant nos. 1 to 9, which are websites, and unknown websites (defendant no. 30, John Doe/Ashok Kumar). It seeks to stop them from hosting, streaming or making the film available for viewing and downloading without authorisation, in infringement of the plaintiff's exclusive rights.

The plaintiff submitted that the defendant websites had previously indulged in rampant piracy of its copyrighted content, including the film Jolly LLB 3, along with third-party content, worldwide and within the court's jurisdiction. Given their business model and modus operandi, it apprehended that the film, scheduled for release on 02.10.2026, would be streamed on these websites and watched in Delhi, causing it loss and injury. The plaint stated that the websites are vehicles of infringement whose whole business model is to give the public access to copyrighted content without authorisation. It added that a third-party investigation agency found them accessible in Delhi and communicating infringing copies of Jolly LLB 3.

The plaintiff relied on several decisions granting similar protection, specifically Jiostar India Private Limited v. Vegamovies.yachts & Ors., CS (Comm) No. 977/2025, order dated 12.09.2025. The court noted that this suit had been entertained before the release of Jolly LLB 3. It observed that of the cases listed by the plaintiff, some are still pending while others were disposed of with dynamic injunctions.

On a prima facie perusal, the court was satisfied that the plaintiff had made out a case for an ad interim ex parte injunction. It held that the injury the plaintiff is likely to suffer may not be compensable in money, and that the balance of convenience and prima facie case lie in its favour.

The court issued the following directions:

• Defendant nos. 1 to 9, or anyone acting on their behalf, are restrained from communicating, hosting, streaming or making the film available for viewing and downloading without authorisation, on their websites or other platforms.
• Defendant nos. 12 to 29 must immediately suspend, block, disable or deactivate the domain names of the concerned defendants within 72 hours of receiving the plaintiff's notice or intimation along with the evidence.
• The concerned government officials shall ensure the order is fully adhered to.
• If the plaintiff comes across piracy by any other website or person who is not a party to the suit, it is at liberty to inform the domain name registrars, internet service providers and the concerned government department, who shall ensure action is taken.

The court also disposed of the plaintiff's applications for exemption from Section 80 CPC notice on defendant nos. 10, 11, 13 and 15, from pre-litigation mediation under Section 12A of the Commercial Courts Act, and for leave to file additional documents and redacted copies. It granted two days to pay the court fees. On the Section 12A exemption, it relied on Yamini Manohar v. T.K.D. Keerthi, (2024) 5 SCC 815, and Chandra Kishore Chaurasia v. R A Perfumery Works (P) Ltd., 2022 SCC OnLine Del 3529.

Summons were issued in the suit. The Central Government Standing Counsel accepted summons for defendant nos. 10 and 11 and waived formal service. The remaining defendants must file written statements within 30 days of receiving summons, along with affidavits of admission or denial of documents. The matter was listed before the Joint Registrar (Judicial) on 27.10.2026, and the interim application will be heard on 03.12.2026.

Appearances:

For the Plaintiff: Mr. Sidharth Chopra, Mr. Yatinder Garg, Mr. Akshay, Mr. Priyansh, Mr. Manish and Mr. Vinayak, Advocates.

For Defendant Nos. 10 and 11: Mr. Satya Ranjan Swain, CGSC, with Mr. Naveen Dedha, GP, Mr. Sanskar and Mr. Tushar, Advocates.

Case Title: Digital18 Media Private Limited vs. SSRMovies.Style & Ors., CS(COMM) 1083/2026 and I.A. 27399 and 27405/2026