The Delhi High Court on Monday questioned whether actors can be held liable for their dialogues on some scenes in the Netflix series Sacred Games , which a petition is claiming to be derogatory to former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.
A Bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Chander Shekhar asked why the actors were made a party in the petition. The Bench also asked if it can entertain as a public interest litigation, a petition filed by advocate Nikhil Bhalla that has sought removal of certain scenes and dialogues in the series that allegedly defamed the late Congress leader.
The Bench remarked how it can stop a viewpoint from being aired. It said a person is entitled to express his views, which may be right or wrong, and asked the petitioner to satisfy it on how the court could interject.
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It asked the petitioner to first give his submissions on the point of maintainability of the plea as a PIL and listed the case for further hearing on July 19. The court said it had gone through the CD of the series and there was nothing urgent in it as all the episodes had been aired.
Advocates appearing for Netflix and the show’s producer Phantom Films Production Ltd. said the series had 8 episodes that had already been aired and did not require a Central Board of Film Certification certificate.
The plea has sought directions to Netflix Entertainment, Phantom Films and the Centre to ensure “in toto” removal of the allegedly offensive scenes and derogatory remarks made directly or indirectly against the former PM or his family.
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The petitioner’s counsel said that Mr. Bhalla has a history of being a Congress member but has filed this plea in his personal capacity. The plea claimed that the show, starring Saif Ali Khan and Nawazuddin Siddiqui, “incorrectly depicts historical events of the country like Bofors case, Shah Bano case, Babri Masjid case and communal riots”.