Netflix argues for free speech in court spat with Indian tycoons over ‘Bad Boy Billionaires’

An Indian court’s decision to stall the release of a Netflix Inc series on four Indian tycoons facing fraud allegations “freezes free speech” and hurts the company financially, the U.S. streaming giant has argued in a court filing seen by Reuters.

“Bad Boy Billionaires” is a documentary series about liquor tycoon Vijay Mallya, Sahara group’s Subrata Roy, Indian IT executive Ramalinga Raju and jeweller Nirav Modi. Netflix put the show on hold this month on order of a state court where Sahara alleged violation of Roy’s privacy rights.

Roy is currently on bail in a case where he was ordered by court to repay billions of dollars to investors in a scheme which was found to be illegal. Roy denied wrongdoing in the case and has already repaid investors, his counsel said.