Fugitive diamantaire Mehul Choksi on Wednesday approached an Indian court in response to the upcoming Netflix documentary 'Bad Boy Billionaires: India', requesting that the release date and pre-screening of the documentary be postponed.
After a brief hearing, Justice Navin Chawla of the Delhi High Court posted the plea for a further hearing on Friday (28 August).
The adjournment came at the request of Senior Advocate Neeraj Kishan Kaul, appearing for Netflix, who wanted time to go through the petition and seek instructions.
The petition, filed by Choksi through Advocate Vijay Aggarwal, sought to compel the court to not release a portion of the documentary “Bad Boy Billionaires – India”. It contends the documentary relates to Choksi and is prejudicial to his rights or mentions him (Choksi) during the pendency of investigations and/or trials against him.
Choksi in his petition has stated that the documentary’s release would severely impact his reputation as well as create a widespread perception of guilt, notwithstanding the fact that no competent court has found him guilty.
The petition also sought to have Netflix conduct a pre-screening of the documentary for the court and the counsel for the petitioner.
Appearing for Choksi, Advocate Aggarwal said his client is not seeking a stay on the documentary but he desires that he be show a preview so that he can argue.
“My Lords, the matter is under investigation and the said documentary will prejudice the rights of the accused (petitioner),” Aggarwal submitted.
On the other hand, Senior Advocate Kaul, appearing for Netflix, opposed the said petition on the grounds of maintainability, saying the documentary has a two-minute piece where a mention of Choksi has been made.
Choksi has stated he learnt about the documentary’s release on 24 August through its trailer. He said people from around the world, including from Delhi, started calling him to confirm if he was part of the documentary and to solicit his reaction for the same.
“Thereafter, the petitioner discovered that one of the persons seen speaking in the trailer was 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,” said the plea.
The plea states that with the documentary’s release there is a real and substantial threat of prejudice to the fairness of the trial and to the rights of the petitioner (Chowksi) under Article 21 (Right to Life and Personal Liberty).
“A trial by media is always detrimental to the case of the Petitioner and is totally contrary to the trite rule that an accused person is innocent until proven guilty by a court of law,” the plea read.