The Delhi High Court (HC) on July 16 while hearing the petition demanding deletion of certain scenes from Netflix web series ‘Sacred Games’ as they allegedly defamed former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi said that the actors cannot be held liable for the dialogues in the series.
The plea also alleged that the web series incorrectly depicted historical events of the country.
The Bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Chander Shekhar has said that it has gone through the CD of the series, placed on record by the petitioner, and there was nothing urgent in it as all the episodes have been aired.
The court added that since all the episodes have already been aired, nothing new episode will come up, and has adjourned the matter to July 19.
Senior advocate Chander Lal, appearing for Netflix, and senior advocate Rajiv Nayar, representing production house Phantom, have said that the series has in total eight episodes that have already been aired and does not require a CBFC (Central Board of Film certificate).
The controversy sparked over the ‘sacred games’ when a complaint was filed by Rajiv Sinha, a Congress member from West Bengal, alleging that the series was “misrepresenting facts during his (Rajiv Gandhi) regime”.
Nikhil Bhalla (associated with Congress) has also filed the public interest litigation. He alleged that the show has some scenes where derogatory language has been used against Rajiv Gandhi. The petition also alleges that the show “incorrectly depicts historical events of the country like Bofors case, Shah Bano case, Babri Masjid case and communal riots”.
The Congress president Rahul Gandhi said that his father lived and died in the service of India and “the views of a character on a fictional web series can never change that”.
