Plea filed against Netflix series for 'insulting' Rajiv Gandhi

The series is based on author Vikram Chandra's novel of the same name.

A petition, filed in the Delhi High Court on Wednesday, seeks the removal of certain content from "Sacred Games," a web series by over-the-top media services provider Netflix, on the grounds of insulting former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.

It will come up for hearing on Thursday. 

It was mentioned before a bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C. Hari Shankar but the bench recused from hearing the matter and listed it for another bench.

On Tuesday, a Congress activist in West Bengal filed a police complaint against actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui, over-the-top media services provider Netflix, and the makers of "Sacred Games" for "insulting and abusing" Rajiv Gandhi.

The complainant said that the show had a scene in which Siddiqui, playing the protagonist, is seen and heard "abusing Rajiv Gandhi, calling him 'fattu'.

The series is based on author Vikram Chandra's novel of the same name. It has been directed by Anurag Kashyap and Vikramaditya Motwane.

The opening scene hits out at the Congress as there are episodes on Emergency imposed by the Indira Gandhi government, as well as Bofors scandal and Shah Bano cases that created a storm during Rajiv Gandhi's tenure as Prime Minister.

• India