Why Delhi HC won’t hear Sameer Wankhede’s plea against ‘B***ds of Bollywood’
The court said it lacks jurisdiction and returned the complaint to be placed before a court of competent jurisdiction.
IRS officer Sameer Wankhede. (Credit: Facebook/@sameerwankhedencb) Declaring that it “lacks the jurisdiction”, the Delhi High Court Thursday refused to entertain a defamation suit by IRS officer Sameer Wankhede, over his alleged defamatory portrayal in the Netflix series B***ds of Bollywood, against production house Red Chillies Entertainment and others.
Justice Purushaindra Kaurav, pronouncing the verdict in open court, returned the complaint to be placed before a court of competent jurisdiction. A detailed order is awaited to be made public.
The series, which premiered on September 18 last year on Netflix, marked the directorial debut of Aryan Khan, son of actor Shah Rukh Khan, and has been produced by Red Chillies Entertainment.
Wankhede, who had arrested Aryan in 2021 while serving as Mumbai zonal director of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), has, in his suit, accused Aryan of a “calculated and vindictive hit job orchestrated to target and malign” him.
The defamation suit was filed against the production company, Netflix, X Corp, Google LLC, Meta Platforms Inc and RPG Lifestyle Media Pvt Ltd among others.
Wankhede claimed that the series disseminates a misleading and negative portrayal of anti-drug enforcement agencies, thereby eroding public confidence in law-enforcement institutions.
He has also objected to a character in the series making an obscene gesture — specifically, showing a middle finger — after the character recites the slogan ‘Satyamev Jayate’ which is the part of the National Emblem. Wankhede submitted that this constitutes a “grave and sensitive violation of provisions of the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act, 1971”.
In his suit, Wankhede sought an award of damages of Rs 2 crore, to be donated to the Tata Memorial Cancer Hospital for treatment of cancer patients.
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