Delhi High Court allows Sameer Wankhede to move Mumbai court against Aryan Khan's Ba***ds of Bollywood

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday allowed former Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) officer Sameer Wankhede to approach a Mumbai court with his defamation suit against Aryan Khan's Netflix show 'Ba***ds of Bollywood'.

 Justice Vikas Mahajan held,

"The application is allowed. Let the parties appear before the City Civil & Sessions Court, Dindoshi, Malad in Mumbai on February 12 when he [Wankhede] proposes to present the plaint," the Court directed. 

Earlier, Justice Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav had ruled that the Delhi High Court was not the appropriate forum to decide the matter and gave Wankhede liberty to approach a court of competent jurisdiction.

"With the main contesting defendants (Red Chillies), residing in Mumbai, the plaintiff (Wankhede) himself being a resident of Mumbai, and further the wrong, as per the plaintiff’s own plaint, having also occurred at Mumbai, the Merger Rule of Tejpal applies with full force. The jurisdiction to entertain the present suit, lies only with the courts in Mumbai....This Court lacks the jurisdiction to entertain the plaint, the same is, therefore, returned to the plaintiff, to be presented, if so advised, before a Court of competent jurisdiction," the Court had said.

Thereby, Wankhede today filed an application under  Order VII Rule 10A of the Civil Procedure Code, under which the court returning the plaint has power to fix a date of appearance in the other court where the plaint is to be filed after its return.

In 2021, Wankhede, then Zonal Director of NCB, had arrested Aryan, son of Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan, under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (NDPS Act) after a drug raid in Mumbai. Khan was later cleared of the charges.

In the defamation suit filed before the High Court, Wankhede claimed that a scene in the Netflix series, Ba***ds of Bollywood' involves a man bearing his resemblance who is ridiculed.

He sought damages of ₹2 crore from the show's producer Red Chillies Entertainment - owned by Shah Rukh Khan and his wife Gauri Khan - and Netflix.

Besides damages, Wankhede also sought a direction to take down the defamatory content and an injunction to restrain the publication and dissemination of any further defamatory statements regarding him.

The High Court had earlier issued summons to Red Chillies Entertainment, Netflix, Google, X Corp and Meta and sought their responses to a defamation suit.

In a written response, Red Chillies told the Court that Wankhede’s reputation was already a subject of public ridicule and adverse commentary much before the release of 'Ba***ds of Bollywood'

It referred to the proceedings initiated by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) against Wankhede on charges of criminal conspiracy and extortion under the Indian Penal Code and Prevention of Corruption Act. Red Chillies also argued that the series is in the nature of satire and parody, which is a protected form of expression and does not constitute defamation.