The Delhi High Court has granted interim protection to singer Kumar Sanu on his personality rights and restrained him from unauthorized use of his name, likeness, image and voice for commercial purposes.
Delhi HC grants interim protection to personality rights of Kumar Sanu; Order to remove infringing material
Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora, presiding over the case Kumar Sanu Bhattacharjee vs Jamable Ltd and others, said that prima facie, the personality traits of the famous singer are protectable elements of his identity. The interim injunction will remain in effect till the next hearing on March 30, 2026.
“Prima facie, the plaintiff’s personality traits and/or parts thereof, including the plaintiff’s name Kumar Sanu, voice, image, photograph or likeness and other features, are protectable elements of the plaintiff’s personality rights. The plaintiff is entitled to protect himself from distorted and defamatory material,” the court said in its order.
The court also referred to earlier judgments related to personality rights of Bollywood celebrities like Anil Kapoor, Karan Johar and Jackie Shroff.
As part of its interim directions, the Court ordered Amazon and Flipkart to remove listings that violate Kumar Sanu’s personality rights and restrained the two e-commerce sellers from selling any goods bearing his name, photo or likeness without authorization.
Google and Meta were directed to remove the infringing content identified in Sanu’s petition as well as any refreshed content flagged by the singer in the future. Additionally, both the platforms were ordered to provide Basic Subscriber Information (BSI) of the anonymous accounts responsible for sharing such content within three weeks.
The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) were also directed to suspend URLs, websites and mobile applications misusing Sanu’s identity and take similar action against any new cases brought to their notice.
Allegations of AI misuse and unauthorized content
The court’s decision came in response to a Rs 2 crore suit filed by the playback legend against several AI-based platforms, online intermediaries, digital entities and unidentified persons, who were accused of creating fake, altered and copied content in its name.
According to Sanu, the defendants misused her persona to sell merchandise, impersonated her on social media and even developed a mobile application on the Google Play Store using her image and voice. The lawsuit alleged that AI-generated sound recordings mimicking his voice and GIFs caricaturing him caused reputational damage and caused him to be subjected to “offensive humor” online.
Sanu, represented by lawyer Sana Raees Khan, argued that such acts violate his right to privacy, goodwill and reputation, besides violating the provisions of the Copyright Act, 1957. The lawsuit emphasized that his stage names – “Kumar Sanu,” “Sanu Da” and the title “The Melody King of Bollywood” – enjoy dual protection under personality/publicity rights and trademark law.
Kumar Sanu’s reaction
Following the court’s decision, Kumar Sanu expressed his gratitude on social media, acknowledging his legal team and the judiciary for recognizing the rights of artists. He wrote, “I am extremely grateful to my lawyer Sana Raees Khan for her powerful and skillful arguments which led to this important victory in the court. My heartfelt thanks to the Honorable Delhi High Court for recognizing and upholding my personality rights.”
Also read: Kunika Sadanand’s old comment on rape in Bollywood resurfaces; Jaan Kumar Sanu gave a sharp reaction
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