'People With Malice Can't Hide Behind Satire': Sameer Wankhede Tells Delhi High Court In Defamation Suit Against 'Ba***ds of Bollywood'

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday (December 2) reserved order in the interim injunction plea filed by IRS officer Sameer Wankhede in his suit over his allegedly defamatory portrayal in the Netflix series “Ba***ds of Bollywood” directed by Aryan Khan.

Justice Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav reserved the order after hearing in detail Wankhede, Red Chillies Entertainment and Netflix.

The Court framed two questions to be decided in the interim injunction application–

1. Whether the suit is maintainable in Delhi? and

2. Whether the impugned depiction of Wankhede in the series, when viewed as a whole, 'prima facie' turns into an actionable harm to Wankhede?

Senior Advocate J Sai Deepak appearing for Wankhede submitted today that the suit is maintainable in Delhi.

Apart from residence of his relatives, Deepak said that the suit is maintainable in the national capital as departmental proceedings concerning Wankhede is pending in Delhi and that the media houses like Hindustan Times and Indian Express, who had published articles against him, are based here.

“Applying the wrong done test along with the amended plaint as it stands today satisfies the those requirements,” Deepak said.

Further, Deepak submitted that the defendants were unable to show any judgment where there is a prior history between the parties and still relief of defamation has not been upheld.

“In my case, there is a prior history. On the face of it, the director of the series was the person arrested. The impugned content specifically targets me. There is prima facie clear link between their vendetta and angst against me and the defamation the content has exposed me to,” he said.

Seeking removal of the impugned portion from the episode, Deepak said that every day the content is available, Wankhede is suffering irreparable harm.

“This is a clear case of malice. People with malice cannot hide behind free speech and satire,” Deepak said.

Earlier, Red Chillies Entertainment had opposed the territorial maintainability of the suit. Senior Advocate Neeraj Kishan Kaul appearing for the production company submitted that the suit lacked territorial jurisdiction, and should have been filed in Bombay, instead of Delhi. 

He said that since Wankhede resides in Bombay and Red Chillies' registered office is also present there, the correct jurisdiction for the filing of the suit should have been Bombay.

Kaul had submitted that merely because Wankhede alleges that things are posted on internet against him which have far reach will not be enough and that he will have to satisfy the test of defamation.

He added that Wankhede cannot pick a one minute stray scene out of context from a seven part show to contend that the same is defamatory.

On the other hand, Netflix had opposed the interim injunction plea arguing that the threshold of defamation in such cases is very high which cannot be proved at an interlocutory stage.

Senior Advocate Rajiv Nayyar appearing for the OTT platform had submitted that the details about inquiries against Wankhede and extortion allegations have been in public domain and social media since 2022 and no action has been taken against such content.

He added that the theme of the show is to expose the Bollywood culture through satire and dark comedy, which cannot be injuncted in a defamation suit.

The suit names the following as defendants: Red Chillies Entertainment Private Limited, Netflix, X Corp (formerly Twitter), Google LLC, Meta Platforms, RPG Lifestyle Media Private Limited and John Doe.

Wankhede has sought Rs. 2 crores as damages which will be donated to Tata Memorial Cancer Hospital for the treatment of Cancer patients.

The suit has been filed seeking permanent and mandatory injunction against the production house and others, against the allegedly “false, malicious, and defamatory video” broadcasted in the series.

It is Wankhede's case that the Netflix series has been “deliberately conceptualised and executed” with the intent to malign his reputation in a “colourable and prejudicial manner”, especially when the case involving him and Aryan khan is pending and sub-judice before the Bombay High Court and the NDPS Special Court.

It has also been averred that the series depicts a character making an “obscene gesture”, specifically, “showing a middle finger” after the character recites the slogan “Satyamev Jayate.”

This act, as per the suit, constitutes a grave and sensitive violation of the provisions of the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act, 1971, which attracts penal consequences under law.

The suit further contends that the content of the series is in contravention of various provisions of the Information Technology Act and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), as it seeks to outrage national sentiment through the use of obscene and offensive material.

Case Title: SAMEER DNYANDEV WANKHEDE v. RED CHILLIES ENTERTAINMENTS PVT. LTD. & ORS