The Delhi High Court issued summons on Wednesday to Shah Rukh Khan's Red Chillies Entertainment, Netflix and others in response to the defamation suit filed by former Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) officer Sameer Wankhede over his portrayal in Aryan Khan’s directorial The Ba***ds of Bollywood.
The court has directed Red Chillies Entertainment and other respondents to file their replies within seven days and instructed Sameer to provide them copies of the petition. The matter has been listed for hearing on October 30.
As per a report in India Today, Sameer’s lawyer has stated that an application has been filed to amend the suit. It should be noted that the Delhi High Court had earlier questioned the maintainability of the case. Justice Purushaindra Kaurav had observed, “Your plaint is not maintainable. I am rejecting your plaint. Had your case been that you were defamed at various places, including Delhi, and that maximum damage occurred here, we would have still considered it.”
Referring to the amended plea, Sameer’s lawyer stated, “In reference to the series, there are posts trolling me, my wife, and my sister. It’s shocking. The defendants are surely not defending those posts.”
In response, Justice Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav said, “We appreciate that there is cause in your favour to approach this court, but there is a process to be followed.”
Previously, Sameer, who had arrested Aryan in a drug-related investigation in 2021, had filed a defamation suit before the Delhi High Court against the makers of Aryan’s show, The Ba***ds of Bollywood. In the plea, Sameer said that the series shows him in a "false, malicious and defamatory manner". “This series disseminates a misleading and negative portrayal of anti-drug enforcement agencies, thereby eroding public confidence in law enforcement institutions," Sameer had said in his defamation suit, as reported by ANI.
In a scene in The Ba***ds of Bollywood a cartoonish character, supposedly based on Sameer, catches a character on suspicion of him possessing drugs. He chants ‘Satyamev Jayate’ before exiting the scene when another character shows him the middle finger.
