Shahrukh Khan and Deepika Padukone get relief from the High Court: What’s the case?

Shah Rukh Khan and Deepika Padukone received interim relief from the Rajasthan High Court after being accused of misleading consumers through a car ad; FIR stayed, next hearing on September 25.

Jaipur: Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan and actress Deepika Padukone have gotten a big relief from the Rajasthan High Court. This case is related to a car advertisement in which both the stars were accused of misleading consumers. The court has currently stayed the FIR registered in this case and has fixed the date of the next hearing on September 25.

What is the whole matter? 

Kirti Singh, a resident of the Bharatpur district of Rajasthan, had lodged an FIR in which he claimed that he had bought a car from the Hyundai company, which turned out to be bad. Due to this, he had to suffer huge financial loss. He says that he bought this car after being influenced by the advertisements done by Shah Rukh Khan and Deepika Padukone.

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Not only these two stars, but also six officials of the company have been named in the FIR. The complainant says that the advertisement was misleading and did not match the reality.

Shahrukh and Deepika's response

Shahrukh Khan and Deepika Padukone immediately moved the Rajasthan High Court in this case and demanded the quashing of the FIR. Senior Supreme Court lawyer Kapil Sibal, appearing for Shahrukh, argued in the court that the actor has no direct connection with this complaint. He said, "Advertising does not make the responsibility of manufacturing quality."

Advocate Madhav Mitra, appearing for Deepika Padukone, also made a similar argument that Deepika was appointed only for brand promotion and the responsibility of technical quality does not come under her purview.

Defense arguments and court decisions

The defense also argued that the complainant used the car for three years and drove it for more than 67,000 kilometers. If she had any complaint with the car, she should have knocked on the door of the consumer forum and not lodged an FIR.

Judge Sudesh Bansal also admitted that there is no solid factual basis in the FIR. On this basis, he has put an interim stay on the FIR registered against all the accused—Shahrukh, Deepika, and company officials.

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Shahrukh and Deepika's brand connection

Shahrukh Khan has been the brand ambassador of the Hyundai company since 1998 and has been appearing in its advertisements for a long time. At the same time, Deepika Padukone signed a contract with the company in December 2023, and both appeared together in an advertisement last year.

This case underlines what the role of a brand ambassador is and how much responsibility he should take. At present, the court has clarified that the stars promoting the product cannot be directly held responsible for the technical defects of the product. The next hearing will be held on September 25, where the legal direction of this case will be more clear.