chief
Prime VIP
With Punjabi Sufi singer Satinder Sartaj failing to respond to a legal notice slapped on him in a case of plagiarism, the complainant, a member judge of the Ferozepur district consumer forum, has decided to move a civil court to open criminal proceedings against the singer and claim Rs 2.5 crore as damages.
The deadline for replying to the notice, which was sent to Sartaj and Canada-based promotion company Mahal Enterprises Ltd by post on August 13, elapsed on Thursday.
While Sartaj could not be contacted, his media manager Manjit Mangat told Hindustan Times over the phone that the singer had agreed to seek an apology from the judge, Tarlok Singh.
The complainant has alleged that some `sheyars' sung by Sartaj in the qawwali “Man kunto Maula“, were his own which had first appeared in “Sahitkar“, a monthly Punjabi magazine published from Amritsar. Tarlok, who had charged Sartaj with plagiarism about six months ago, claims Sartaj has used `sheyars' from his ghazal “Aaasa aang de vastar paune ne“, which was later included in his book of poems “Ahsas De Zakham“, published in 1995. The two sides have made several attempts in recent months to work out a settlement, but the case is still dragging on.
“Had Sartaj been keen to settle things, he would have contacted me now.
I was there at many of his performances, but he never came to me. His attempts at resolving the issue are an eyewash. He was fully aware that the court proceedings would interfere with his foreign schedule,“ Tarlok told HT.
Mangat said miscommunication had made matters worse.
The deadline for replying to the notice, which was sent to Sartaj and Canada-based promotion company Mahal Enterprises Ltd by post on August 13, elapsed on Thursday.
While Sartaj could not be contacted, his media manager Manjit Mangat told Hindustan Times over the phone that the singer had agreed to seek an apology from the judge, Tarlok Singh.
The complainant has alleged that some `sheyars' sung by Sartaj in the qawwali “Man kunto Maula“, were his own which had first appeared in “Sahitkar“, a monthly Punjabi magazine published from Amritsar. Tarlok, who had charged Sartaj with plagiarism about six months ago, claims Sartaj has used `sheyars' from his ghazal “Aaasa aang de vastar paune ne“, which was later included in his book of poems “Ahsas De Zakham“, published in 1995. The two sides have made several attempts in recent months to work out a settlement, but the case is still dragging on.
“Had Sartaj been keen to settle things, he would have contacted me now.
I was there at many of his performances, but he never came to me. His attempts at resolving the issue are an eyewash. He was fully aware that the court proceedings would interfere with his foreign schedule,“ Tarlok told HT.
Mangat said miscommunication had made matters worse.
