People In Defence of Animals (PIDA) had filed a public interest litigation against Ashutosh, Ronnie, Hrithik and Aishwarya in the Mumbai High Court. PIDA alleged that during the shooting of the film, several animals were ill treated and due to this they perished.
The division bench of Justice Nazki and Justice Bobde of the Bombay High Court was absolutely critical of PIDA and came down heavily that it was trying to take advantage of the publicity that it would gain by filing the the litigation in the High Court instead of taking recourse in the appropriate forum as provided by law.
Justice Nazki even remarked that he had seen the film and had found nothing offensive in the film. Justice Bobade also remarked that if the horses were not reined then how was it possible to control them and can pulling the ear of an elephant be construed to ill treating the elephants. The Hon`ble Court was inclined to dismiss the litigation with cost of Rs. 25,000/- with the intention of deterring any such frivolous litigation from being initiated in future. The advocate for PIDA requested the Hon`ble Court to grant PIDA permission to withdraw the petition without any costs being imposed. The Hon`ble Court allowed the advocate for PIDA to withdraw the petition.
