The Delhi High Court has dismissed Sameer Wankhede’s defamation plea against Aryan Khan’s debut show, The Ba***ds of Bollywood, citing that the court does not have the jurisdiction to hear the plea. The former Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) officer had filed a defamation lawsuit against Netflix and Shah Rukh Khan’s Red Chillies Entertainment. While the court dismissed his plea, it clarified that Wankhede can seek recourse through a different legal forum.
In his plea, Wankhede claimed that Aryan’s show damaged his reputation. In 2021, he arrested Aryan over an alleged drug case, but the latter received a clean chit. In The Ba***ds of Bollywood, there is a scene where an inspector from a fictional anti-narcotics agency arrests an actor over a false drug case. Wankhede argued that the overzealous officer shown in the show resembles him and urged that the scene should be removed from the show.
He also objected to another scene where a character is shown raising the middle finger, and immediately after that, he says the national slogan, ‘Satyamev Jayate’. Wankhede demanded that these scenes be removed from the show and also sought Rs 2 crore, stating that it would go to the Tata Memorial Cancer Hospital.
Senior advocate J Sai Deepak, appearing for Wankhede, argued that the defamation case could be heard in Delhi since Wankhede’s relatives live in the National capital. He also cited the ongoing departmental inquiry against the former NCB officer in Delhi to establish the court’s jurisdiction.
However, the legal team for Red Chillies Entertainment argued that the Delhi court might not be the proper forum for this case since Wankhede lives in Mumbai and Red Chillies, too, have their registered office in Mumbai. Hence, the suit should have been filed in the Mumbai High Court.
Justice Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav dismissed the case on jurisdictional grounds, while noting that Wankhede remains free to pursue relief before the appropriate forum.
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