Delhi HC dismisses Mehul Choksi’s plea against Netflix series 'Bad Boy Billionaires'

The Delhi High Court on Friday dismissed a writ petition filed by the infamous diamond merchant Mehul Choksi against the upcoming Netflix series called ‘Bad Boy Billionaires'. The docu-series is set to release on September 2 on the streaming platform Netflix and delves into the notorious lives of Vijay Mallya, Subrata Roy, Nirav Modi, and Ramalinga Raju. 

Since the series will talk about Nirav Modi and the USD 2 million Punjab National Bank fraud, it may also feature Nirav’s uncle Mehul Choksi, who is also an accused in the scam. 

Mehul Choksi’s lawyer had moved the High Court asking that he be shown a preview of the docu-series before it is released as it may influence and affect the ongoing probe into the PNB fraud, in which Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi have been accused. 

However, during the hearing on Friday, the counsel for Netflix told the court that there is no reference to any trial against Choksi in the series and that pre-censorship will have the effect of killing free speech.

In the previous hearing, advocate Vijay Aggarwal had sought postponement of the documentary's release. He said Choksi saw the trailer and has been receiving phone calls from across the world asking him whether he was part of the documentary and seeking comments.

"Thereafter, the petitioner (Choksi) discovered that one of the persons seen speaking in the trailer was one Mr. Pavan C Lall who had written a book titled 'Flawed: The Rise and Fall of India's Diamond Mogul Nirav Modi' where also the petitioner's name had been commingled with Nirav Modi's," the plea said.

During the hearing, senior advocate Neeraj Kishan Kaul, representing Netflix, said the web series is on many people like Nirav Modi and only two minutes are devoted to Choksi. He said a general mandamus to regulate Over The Top (OTTs) cannot be passed and submitted that due to insufficient time he could not get instructions on the matter. He said he will seek instructions on the issue.

In the petition, Choksi claims he has been falsely accused of various crimes in India and is presently under investigation or standing trial by and before various authorities and/or courts. The petitioner is entitled in terms of Indian law, that is, Article 21 of the Constitution of India to a presumption of innocence and a free and fair trial. Reputation being a facet of a person's life, the petitioner is also entitled to a right to a reputation, it said.