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Informist, Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2026

 

NEW DELHI – The Delhi High Court Tuesday observed that there is a need to bring some sanity in the concept of personality rights after several actors, cricketers, and singers have repeatedly moved the court to protect this right. What started as something small, done with good intentions, "is going out of hand", the court remarked. Hearing a suit filed by film actress Jahnvi Kapoor, the court said it was not inclined to grant any blanket order in the name of personality rights.

 

The court noted that there were more than 5,000 uniform resource locators given by Kapoor, where things like fan pages are also involved. "Can I give a blanket dynamic injunction on this? You don't want fans? It is the digital world," said Justice Anup Jairam Bhambhani. "You are a celebrity, a part of your personality you have put out in the public domain. Please come watch my movies, come to my shows, buy this cola drink, wear this clothesline because I use it. That same celebrity becomes touchy about the use?" he remarked.

 

The court questioned Kapoor on her plea to restrain her fan clubs from posting content relating to her. "How do we draw a line? In law we can do only so much and no more. We cannot stop free speech, restrain everything. How can you shut down all fan clubs? You are a public personality. Who is immune these days? Everyone who is in the public domain is being abused left, right, and centre," Justice Bhambhani said.

 

Suppose somebody goes to the opening of a movie and takes a picture, he owns the copyright and opens the account, the court said. "You want to check if he has the copyright?" he asked. The judge also noted that there are cases where celebrities try to hide wrongdoing under the rubric of personality rights and celebrity rights. "You may not be misusing the restraint order but there may be others who will," he said.

 

"You attend events, go for inaugurations, you go as a celebrity, people carry phones, do they take photos? Do you stop them? One of the strands of copyright is the right to sell your work," the court said. Regarding social media accounts using the same name as the actress, the court said these accounts use Kapoor's name and likeness. Name is not anyone's monopoly, somebody may have the same name, the court said.

 

There is some sense of entitlement in the pursuit of personality rights, Justice Bhambhani said, adding that the Delhi High Court is becoming an elitist court. "Somebody writes an article on you, it gets published in a magazine, which is sold, monetised, then you say how can you write an article about me. No comment, no URLs.... You will find yourself living in a cave," he said.

 

The court said the claims and prayers made by Kapoor were too broad with uniform resource locators numbering about 5,000. It directed the actress to set out in tabular form the uniform resource locators that are on the face of it pornographic, obscene, prurient, or lascivious and can be seen to be directly monetising the personality rights of the plaintiff using her name and likeness to promote the sale of merchandise or services. The court also asked Meta Platforms Inc. and others to take down those links that are obscene and pornographic.

 

Kapoor had moved the court seeking protection of her personality rights. Her counsel argued that there is pornographic content, impersonating accounts, artificial intelligence-generated content, and fan pages that are nothing short of profanity, where photos are zoomed in.

 

Personality rights are the legal claims an individual has to control and protect the commercial and public use of his or her identity, including name, image, voice, and likeness. They consist of two core components, the right to publicity and the right to privacy.  

 

The Delhi High Court is hearing a bunch of personality rights cases from various celebrities. These include Amitabh Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan, Salman Khan, Hrithik Roshan, Karan Johar, Tabu, Anil Kapoor, Jackie Shroff, Kajol, R. Madhavan, and Sonakshi Sinha. Certain South cinema stars like Allu Arjun, Mohanlal, Nagarjuna and Jr. NTR have also moved the court to protect their personality rights. In addition, singers Kumar Sanu and Jubin Nautiyal and podcaster Raj Shamani, along with cricketers Virat Kohli, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Yuvraj Singh, Abhishek Sharma, and Sunil Gavaskar, have approached the court.  End

 

Reported by Surya Tripathi

Edited by Rajeev Pai

 

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