Delhi High Court rejects Sameer Wankhede's defamation suit against Aryan Khan's Netflix show Ba***ds of Bollywood

The Delhi High Court on Thursday rejected a defamation case filed by IRS officer Sameer Wankhede against Aryan Khan-directorial Netflix show Ba***ds of Bollywood', holding that the case can only be heard by courts in Mumbai [Sameer Dnyandev Wankhede Vs. Red Chillies Entertainments Pvt. Ltd. & Ors]. . Justice Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav 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. Pending applications, if any, stand disposed of," the Court said. .In the year 2021, Wankhede, the Zonal Director of Narcotics Control Bureau, had arrested Aryan Khan 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 and that the scene targeted and ridiculed him. He sought damages of ₹2 crore from the show's producer Red Chillies Entertainment - owned by actor Shah Rukh Khan and his wife Gauri Khan - and Netflix. Besides damages, Wankhede also sought direction to take down the defamatory content and an injunction to restrain the publication and dissemination of any further defamatory statements regarding him.The 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..Senior Advocate Rajiv Nayar appeared for the streaming platform and said that the show has Karan Johar making a self-referential joke, calling himself movie mafia, Imran Hashmi has been cast as an intimacy coach, and there are discussions about drug abuse, MeToo, casting couch, nepotism, insider versus outsider debate, which shows that the show exposes “bad ways of Bollywood”. “Everybody has been painted with some side of parody or satire,” Nayar said..Senior Advocate J Sai Deepak appeared for Wankhede and argued that Wankhede has an exemplary track record but was being subjected to ridicule due to the history between the parties. He said that there was an element of malice and vendetta behind Wankhede's portrayal in the web series, adding that retribution was the source of inspiration for the content.He stated that defence of satire is not absolute and that Shah Rukh Khan’s production house Red Chillies Entertainment has targeted a public servant in the series. "Producer is a big giant. They have come after a public servant," Wankhede's counsel submitted before the Court..During hearings, the Court had mulled over the question of permissible artistic freedom. Today, it dismissed Wankhede's plea after concluding that it did not have the jurisdiction to decide the matter. .Senior Advocate J Sai Deepak with advocates Shaktiki Sharma, Purnima Vashishtha, Jatin Parashar, Rohit Bhagat, Kunal Vats, Aprajita, Tanya Arora and Sanyam appeared for Wankhede.Senior Advocates Neeraj Kishan Kaul and Shyel Trehan with advocates Janay Jain, Monisha Mane Bhangale, Bijal Vora, Rohan Poddar, Vidhi Jain, Pranav Sarthi, Apoorva Singh, Ayush Raj, Prachi Dhingra, Utkarsh Vatsa, Udit Bajpai, and Ashutosh Agarwal appeared for Red Chillies Entertainment.Senior Advocate Rajiv Nayyar with advocates Saikrishna Rajagopal, Sidharth Chopra, Sneha Jain, Angad Makkar, Raghav Goyal and Devrat Joshi appeared for Netflix. Advocates Ankit Parhar, Tejpal Singh Rathore, Abhishek Kumar and Sanchi Sethi appeared for X Corp.Advocates Mamta Jha, Rohan Ahuja and Shruttima appeared for Google.Advocates Amee Rana, Thejesh Rajendran and Tanuj Sharma appeared for Meta Platforms. Advocates Sankalp Udgata with Mr. Jeevan Ballav Panda appeared for RPG Lifestyle Media. .[Read Judgment].[Live Coverage].Follow Bar and Bench channel on WhatsAppDownload the Bar and Bench Mobile app for instant access to the latest legal news.