Delhi HC Protects Personality Rights Of Hrithik Roshan And Kumar Sanu, Orders Removal Of Objectionable Online Content
The Delhi High Court protected Hrithik Roshan and Kumar Sanu's personality rights, ordering the removal of defamatory and AI-generated content.
By ETV Bharat Entertainment Team
Published : October 15, 2025 at 4:17 PM IST
New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Wednesday safeguarded the personality and publicity rights of Bollywood actor Hrithik Roshan and veteran singer Kumar Sanu. The court also directed the removal of objectionable and defamatory content against both celebrities from various social media platforms.
Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora, while hearing separate pleas filed by Roshan and Sanu, stated that the court would issue detailed interim injunction orders soon. In Hrithik Roshan's case, the bench clarified that it was not passing any ex parte directions at this stage for the removal of certain fan pages, and that the order would be issued after hearing all concerned parties. The case has been listed for further on March 27, 2026.
Roshan had approached the court seeking to guard his personality rights and to prevent internet platforms from infringing on his name, face, and AI-created obscene content. The plea brought to the attention the increasing misuse of celebrity identities through deepfakes and impersonations on social media platforms, misleading the public and damaging reputations.
Similarly, in singer Kumar Sanu's case, the court acknowledged the exploitation of his voice and likeness in online material and instructed the take-down of objectionable videos against him from social media. Justice Arora verbally noted that the court would imminently issue a comprehensive interim injunction order safeguarding Sanu's rights and instructing the take-down of the offending content.
Sanu's plea sought protection of his name, voice, mannerisms, images, caricatures, photographs, likeness, and signature from unauthorised use. He alleged that third parties were commercially exploiting his persona to generate revenue through social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.
The suit, filed through advocates Shikha Sachdeva and Sana Raees Khan, also claimed a violation of Sanu's moral rights in his performances under the provisions of the Copyright Act. The singer said he was distressed by "various GIFs, audio and video recordings containing his performances and voice, which bring disrepute to him and make him a subject of unsavoury humour."
He further expressed concern about the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to clone his voice, vocal style, and manner of singing, and about the morphing of his face for commercial merchandise. "Such merchandise and audios/videos of the plaintiff generate revenue for the defendants, as they are uploaded and streamed on social networking websites... which generate revenue based on the number of clicks or views to a particular image/video," the suit stated. "Such acts also amount to an attempt at false endorsements and passing off and hence, must be restrained by an order of injunction by this court," it added.
Recently, the Delhi High Court has been witnessing similar petitions by prominent public figures seeking protection against impersonation and AI-generated content. Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan, Karan Johar, Akkineni Nagarjuna, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, and journalist Sudhir Chaudhary have all approached the court for protection of their personality and publicity rights, with interim relief already granted in their favour.
The right to publicity, popularly known as personality rights, allows individuals to protect, control, and profit from their image, name, likeness, and identity, ensuring they are not commercially exploited without consent.
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