Delhi HC protects Sunil Gavaskar’s personality rights

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday protected the personality and publicity rights of former India cricketer and renowned commentator Sunil Gavaskar, restraining several websites and online platforms from illegally using his name, images or persona for commercial gain without his consent.

Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora also barred multiple defendants from exploiting Gavaskar’s personality traits through artificial intelligence tools and deepfake technology. The court further ordered the immediate removal of certain obscene and objectionable content uploaded on the internet using his name and likeness.

The High Court directed websites hosting the offensive material to take down the specified URLs within 72 hours. It said that if the platforms failed to comply, the concerned social media intermediaries would be required to remove the content themselves. The matter has been listed for further hearing on May 22.

Earlier, on December 12, the court had asked social media intermediaries to act within seven days on Gavaskar’s plea after directing his counsel to first approach the platforms with grievances. The intermediaries were instructed to treat the suit as a formal complaint under the Information Technology (Intermediaries Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, and take necessary action.

During Tuesday’s hearing, the court was informed that while some of the objectionable content had been removed following its earlier directions, several links and materials were still accessible online.

Gavaskar had approached the High Court seeking protection against the unauthorised use of his name, images, persona and likeness by social media platforms and e-commerce websites, arguing that such misuse violated his personality and publicity rights.

Personality rights, also known as the right to publicity, allow individuals to protect, control and commercially benefit from the use of their image, name or likeness.

In recent months, several prominent public figures have moved the Delhi High Court seeking similar relief. These include actors Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan and Jaya Bachchan, Hrithik Roshan, Ajay Devgn, R Madhavan, filmmaker Karan Johar, singer Kumar Sanu, Telugu actor Akkineni Nagarjuna, ‘Art of Living’ founder Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, journalist Sudhir Chaudhary and podcaster Raj Shamani, all of whom were granted interim protection. Bollywood actor Salman Khan, Telugu actor NTR Rao Junior and Andhra Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan have also filed petitions seeking protection of their personality rights.