Mere availability of Online Content cannot fix jurisdiction, says HC while rejecting Sameer Wankhede’s defamation suit against Netflix Series

The Delhi High Court has declined to entertain a civil suit filed by IRS officer Sameer Wankhede alleging defamatory portrayal in a Netflix series “Ba***ds of Bollywood”, holding that the case does not fall within its territorial jurisdiction and directing him to approach the appropriate court instead.

Wankhede had moved the High Court seeking urgent injunctive relief and damages against the makers and platforms hosting a web series that he claimed portrayed him in a false, malicious, and reputation-damaging manner. He argued that the continued availability of the content online was causing daily and irreparable harm, and asserted that Delhi courts had jurisdiction due to pending official proceedings linked to him in the capital and the presence of major media organisations headquartered there.

The defendants, including the production house and the streaming platform, contested the suit’s maintainability, contending that both Wankhede’s residence and the principal place of business of the production company were in Mumbai, making Delhi an inappropriate forum.

Justice Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav confined the decision to the threshold issue of jurisdiction and declined to examine the merits of the alleged defamation at this stage. The Court reiterated that civil actions must be instituted before the court having proper territorial competence and found that the plaintiff had failed to establish such jurisdiction in Delhi.

Returning the plaint, the Court recorded, “The plaint is returned to the plaintiff to approach the Court of competent jurisdiction,” and dismissed the accompanying applications, leaving the substantive claims open to be pursued before the appropriate forum.

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