NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court on Tuesday refused to stay the streaming of webseries ‘Hasmukh’ on Netflix while observing that the “essence of democracy” is that a creative artistee is given the liberty to project a picture of society in the way he perceives it.
Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva, while dismissing the plea raising concerns over portrayal of lawyers in the show, said, “One of the prime forms of exposing the ills of the society is by portraying a satirical picture of the same. Stand-up comedians perform that very purpose. In their portrayal they exaggerate the ills to an extent that it becomes a ridicule.”
The plea wanted court to restrain Netflix from airing the webseries on the ground that such statements were highly disparaging, defamatory and brought disrepute to the law profession and advocates in the eyes of the general public.
The defendants submitted that the series was a work of fiction and statements made by the characters were meant to be taken in the context of humour and not as truth.
“In the episode in question the protagonist makes the impugned comment after facing a personal experience with a dishonest, greedy lawyer. Having experienced an immoral character, the protagonist thereafter, while performing on the stage as a stand-up comedian makes a satirical comment about the lawyers in general. People do not view the jokes made by stand-up comedians as statements of truth but take them with a pinch of salt with the understanding that it is an exaggeration to expose certain shortcomings,” the order stated.
‘Freedom still alive’
After the order was passed, the defendant’s advocate said, “This is a welcome decision that reinforces artistic and cinematic freedom of speech and expression, without which the world of storytelling would not survive. “So this decision is a gentle reminder of the fact that freedom and ability are still, very much, intact”