Institute of Legal and Management Studies

IRS Officer Sameer Wankhede has filed a defamation suit before the Delhi High Court against Red Chillies Entertainment, Netflix and others over allegedly defamatory portrayal of him in the new Netflix series “Ba***ds of Bollywood”, directed by Aryan Khan.

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.