New Delhi: The Delhi High Court is scheduled to pronounce on Tuesday its order on an interim application seeking stay on airing of webseries 'Hasmukh' on online media streaming platform Netflix for allegedly maligning image and reputation of lawyers.
Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva has earlier reserved its order on an advocate's interim application.
The application was filed in a suit seeking injunction on broadcast of the web series, which was opposed by Netflix on the ground that any such order would be contrary to freedom of speech and expression guaranteed under the Constitution.
The suit seeking injunction on airing of the series or deletion of some of its content, especially from its fourth episode, was moved by lawyer Ashutosh Dubey who said the web series maligned the image and reputation of advocates everywhere.
The court had earlier issued notice to Netflix and the show's producers and director seeking their stand on the suit.
Apart from seeking to stop airing if the show, the plaintiff has also sought directions to the web series producers, directors and writer 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".
Netflix, in its written submissions placed before the court, has contended that there are several judgments which say that lawyers as a class cannot be defamed.
It has said that if an injunction is granted in this matter then it will open the floodgates to defamation litigation 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".
In the show, the protagonist, in each episode, murder professionals from various facets of life who have committed some wrong and then performs a stand-up act on such people, Netflix has contended.