New Delhi – Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora of the Delhi High Court directed the removal of obscene and objectionable content featuring Sunil Gavaskar, while prohibiting defendants from using AI and deepfake technology to exploit his personality traits. The court mandated that URLs of infringing posts, videos, and related content be taken down by websites within 72 hours, failing which social media intermediaries must act, with the next hearing set for May 22.
Gavaskar hailed the order as a “significant judicial recognition of athletes’ personality and publicity rights in India,” particularly against unauthorized use on social media and e-commerce platforms for digital promotion and commercial gain. Some content had already been removed following the court’s December 12 directive to intermediaries under the IT (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, but persistent material prompted further action.
Personality rights, granting control over one’s image, name, and identity for protection and profit, have seen similar protections for celebrities like Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Hrithik Roshan, Ajay Devgn, Karan Johar, and others who received interim relief from the Delhi High Court
