New Delhi, September 10: The Delhi High Court on Wednesday said it would pass an order on Bollywood actor Abhishek Bachchan’s plea seeking to safeguard his publicity and personality rights. The actor requested the court to restrain websites and online platforms from misusing his image, likeness, persona, and voice, particularly in fake and sexually explicit content.
Justice Tejas Karia, before whom the petition was heard, noted the submissions by Bachchan’s legal team regarding the defendant entities and stated, “We will pass an order.”
The suit alleges that Bachchan’s personality attributes, instantly recognized by the public, were being misappropriated without consent for commercial gain. The defendants were accused of creating and circulating content such as deepfakes, manipulated videos, and GIFs based on clips from his films. The petition also invokes Section 38B of the Copyright Act, 1957, claiming violation of the actor’s moral rights in his performances. Bachchan argued that these distorted clips exploit his work and bring him into disrepute by making him the subject of unsavory humor and false rumors.
Justice Karia indicated that platforms like Google could be directed to remove infringing content if URL-specific details were provided. “We can ask Google to take down. But you have to give a URL specific to each defendant. YouTube, Amazon, and Flipkart are mentioned in the petition, but this order cannot be granted generally. It has to be divided defendant-wise,” the judge said.
Bachchan is represented by the Anand and Naik team, comprising Advocates Pravin Anand, Ameet Naik, Madhu Gadodia, Dhruv Anand, Udita Patro, Nimrat Singh, Deveesha Tudekar, Dhananjay Khanna, Aayushi Udani, Riya Kumar, and Unnati Gambani.
On September 9, Justice Karia also heard Aishwarya Rai Bachchan’s plea seeking similar protection. She alleged misuse of her name, photographs, and likeness through fake websites, unauthorized merchandise, and, in some instances, sexually explicit AI-generated content. Her counsel, Senior Advocate Sandeep Sethi, highlighted merchandise such as mugs and T-shirts bearing her name and photos, and a fraudulent company named Aishwarya Nation Wealth that falsely listed her as its chairperson. He also flagged obscene, morphed images in circulation online, calling it a “gross violation of dignity.”
Justice Karia signaled intent to pass an interim injunction restraining such misuse and scheduled further proceedings for January 15, 2026. The court noted that while a single consolidated order would be desirable, the wide range of reliefs sought required defendant-wise injunctions. Specific URLs, the judge added, could be addressed through direct takedown directions to platforms or via the Blocking and Screening Instructions (BSI) process.
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