Bollywood actor Arjun Kapoor approached the Delhi High Court on Wednesday seeking protection of his personality rights against alleged abuse through artificial intelligence and pornographic content. The case was heard by Justice Tushar Rao Gedela, with advocate Praveen Anand representing the actor.
Arjun Kapoor Personality Rights Case: Delhi High Court says all content on public figures cannot be removed unless defamatory
During the hearing, Anand informed the court that several defendants were selling goods using Kapoor’s personality traits, including photographs, without permission. He also said that some people were sharing sexual content, deepfakes and pornographic content related to the actor. He referred to earlier cases where courts had protected personality rights of public figures like Jubin Nautiyal and Vivek Oberoi.
As the Court reviewed the material, Justice Gedela said that not everything relating to a public figure could be removed unless it was clearly objectionable. Anand argued that the content was not satirical but AI-generated, with one showing morphed images of Kapoor with an animal and another showing him selling golgappas. “Nobody would want that. Not even a common man,” he said.
Responding to this, the Court said, “The common man does not come to the court for personality rights. When a person is in the public glare, a lot of things happen. We can understand what things are offensive or defamatory. But everything cannot come under it. Otherwise the judgment in DM Entertainment would become meaningless.” The court also heard the arguments of Google LLC and said that a detailed interim order will be passed later.
The high court has previously granted similar protection to several public figures, including Allu Arjun, Mohanlal, Pawan Kalyan, Sunil Gavaskar and Karan Johar.
