Vir Das’ Netflix show ‘Hasmukh’ gets a breather, Delhi High Court refuses to grant interim stay on the airing of the series

By Vandana Srivastawa

on May 05, 2020

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday declined to grant interim stay on the airing of Vir Das’s Hasmukh on Netflix. It has dismissed a plea that claimed that the series maligned and brought disrepute to the reputation and profession of advocates and lawyers. Lawyer Ashutosh Dubey had put in a plea for the stay on the airing of the series which has been dismissed by Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva.

However, a petition that seeks a permanent injunction on the airing of the show is still pending and will be held in July. The plaintiff had complained that the series maligned the reputation of the advocates and wanted deletion of some of its content, especially from its fourth episode as lawyers have been allegedly referred to as thieves, scoundrels, goons and even rapists.

WE ARE LIVE! Our new series #Hasmukh is NOW STREAMING on @NetflixIndia We bled for this show, both on screen and off
Do give it a watch, and spread the word!
Thoda muskuraiye na, Kya hua? Koi mar gaya kya?
Click here: https://t.co/0Kve3ddZwz pic.twitter.com/GYA1CdQBLH

— Vir Das (@thevirdas) April 17, 2020

The plea also demanded an unconditional apology from the producers, writers and directors of the series. They asked to ‘tender unconditional apology online for maligning the image of the lawyers' community, which includes judges too as they too had been lawyers at one point of time.’ However, the case was ably argued by Netflix’s advocate Saikrishna Rajagopal who said that an injunction on the show would be contrary to the Fundamental Right of Freedom of speech and expression guaranteed under the Constitution.

It was argued that if an injunction was granted in this matter then it will open the floodgates on other professions as well by "so-called class of persons, including chartered accounts, engineers, doctors, IAS officers, police officers, who may not agree with any cinematic or theatrical portrayal of their class." Netflix also contended that the injunction on the series will put a stop to satires and parodies. The series is a work of fiction and any utterances made in Hamukh should be taken as a pinch of salt and figment of imagination and not absolute truth.

(Source: PTI)