New Delhi: Indian Revenue Service officer Sameer Wankhede, who spearheaded the Narcotics Control Bureau probe against Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan in the 2021 drugs-on-cruise case, has filed a defamation suit in the Delhi High Court against Red Chillies Entertainment Pvt Ltd and Netflix, among other parties.
In the suit, the IRS officer has alleged that Aryan Khan’s directorial debut, Ba***ds of Bollywood, the series produced by Shah Rukh Khan and Gauri Khan’s Red Chillies and streaming on Netflix, contains “false, malicious, and defamatory” content.
The series, Wankhede has further alleged, was designed to tarnish his reputation and disseminate negative and misleading portrayals of anti-drug enforcement agencies to cast them in a negative light, thereby eroding public confidence in law enforcement institutions.
In his plea, the ex-NCB officer has sought court relief, including a permanent and mandatory injunction on the series, a formal declaration of malicious portrayal, and damages of Rs 2 crore. Moreover, Wankhede proposed donating the entire Rs 2 crore for the treatment of cancer patients at the Tata Memorial Cancer Hospital.
Wankhede has placed before the high court his contention that the series was deliberately conceptualised and executed to malign him, in the backdrop of the Aryan Khan case. The matter remains sub judice before the Bombay High Court and a special Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act court in Mumbai. Wankhede has also argued that during court proceedings, such portrayals are not only defamatory but also prejudicial and irresponsible.
Obscenity & insult cited in Wankhede suit
The series includes a scene where a character, in the aftermath of uttering the national motto, ‘Satyamev Jayate‘, a part of India’s national emblem, displays, according to Wankede, an obscene gesture—raising the middle finger. It violates the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act, 1971, inviting penal consequences, the IRS officer has said.
Sameer Wankhede has further claimed that the content contravenes provisions of the Information Technology Act and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita as it seeks to outrage public sentiment through obscene and offensive depictions. Claiming the series erodes public confidence in law enforcement institutions, he has asked the Delhi High Court to issue orders restraining its further broadcast or dissemination.
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)
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