The Delhi High Court on Thursday rejected Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer Sameer Wankhede's plea against Aryan Khan's series The Ba***ds of Bollywood, stating that the court lacks the jurisdiction to entertain the same.
In its verdict, the court also said that Sameer Wankhede is at liberty to file a plea in front of an appropriate court.
The Delhi High Court had last year reserved order in the interim injunction plea filed by Sameer Wankhede in his suit over his allegedly defamatory portrayal in the Netflix series The Ba***ds of Bollywood, directed by Aryan Khan.
Justice Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav reserved the order after hearing in detail arguments by Sameer Wankhede, series production banner Red Chillies Entertainment, owned by Aryan Khan's father and Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan, and Netflix.
The court framed two questions to be decided in the interim order application:
1. Whether the suit is maintainable in Delhi? and 2. Whether the 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.
Also Read | Sameer Wankhede, In Reply To Delhi High Court, Lists 4 Similarities With Ba***ds Character