On May 5, the Delhi High Court refused to grant an interim injunction on a case filed against Netflix for a monologue in the TV show Hasmukh where the show's protagonist rails against lawyers in a stand-up act after murdering one. The suit, filed by lawyer Ashutosh Dubey, accused Netflix and Hasmukh's creators of defaming lawyers at large. Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva said in his order that Dubey "has not been able to even show any personal injury or violation of any right entitling him to grant of any injunction". Netflix declined to comment; the main case is still ongoing even as the judge refuses to block access to the show without hearing the case further. "We file appeal against the order [sic], such statements especially kanoon ke thekedar [guardians of law] and Rapist are blot on the noble profession," Dubey told MediaNama. Lawyers not a class of persons that can be defamed Justice Sachdeva said in his order, "Given the vast diversity in the class, the words used to describe a class would not reasonably lead persons acquainted with the Plaintiff to believe that he was the person referred to." Netflix's legal team, which included Amit Sibal and a team from Saikrishna & Associates, argued that there was a lot of precedent of courts throwing out cases defaming lawyers as a group. In fact, Shah Rukh Khan himself was involved in such a case. In 1998, a criminal case was filed against Khan because of a line in his film Ram Jaane:…
