7 months ago
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In a powerfully worded bid that addresses the increasing menace of artificial intelligence-driven impersonation and misrepresentation, the Bombay High Court has granted actor Suniel Shetty urgent ex-parte interim relief against the unauthorised usage of his property done deepfakes and AI-generated content.
Justice Arif S. Doctor, successful an bid passed connected October 10 and made disposable connected October 13, described the infringing worldly arsenic “a lethal operation of a depraved caput and the misuse of technology, resultantly causing harm to the plaintiff’s property rights.”
The tribunal was proceeding Mr. Shetty’s commercialized IP suit seeking extortion of his property rights, privacy, and dignity nether Article 21 of the Constitution and the Copyright Act, 1957. The histrion had approached the tribunal aft discovering a bid of AI-generated images and videos circulating online that falsely depicted him and his household successful obscene and misleading contexts. These were hosted connected platforms operated by Meta and X Corp and promoted by assorted known and chartless entities.
Right to unrecorded with dignity
Justice Doctor held that “The unauthorised instauration and uploading of deepfake images of the Plaintiff connected societal media platforms constitutes a sedate infringement not lone of his property rights but besides of his close to unrecorded with dignity.”
The tribunal noted that specified exploitation, particularly erstwhile utilized to falsely subordinate the histrion with gambling websites, astrology services, and commercialized endorsements, amounted to misappropriation of goodwill and user deception.
The tribunal restrained 7 named defendants: John Doe/Ashok Kumar (defendant 1), MyBhavishyavaani (defendant 2), Tring.co.in (defendant 4), Iceposter.com (defendant 6), PaisaWapas.com (defendant 13), WallpaperCave.com (defendant 15), and BCGame.co.in (defendant 18), from utilizing Mr. Shetty’s name, image, voice, likeness, signature, and different identifiable attributes crossed immoderate medium, including AI-generated content, deepfake videos, voice-cloned audio, and metaverse environments.
Take down bid to Meta, X
The tribunal besides directed Meta Platforms (defendant 3) and X Corp (defendant 19) to instrumentality down each infringing contented listed successful the plaint and to enactment connected aboriginal instrumentality down requests from Shetty. They were further ordered to supply subscriber and seller accusation to assistance successful identifying infringers.
Justice Doctor emphasised the urgency of granting alleviation without anterior announcement to the defendants and noted, “Given the gravity and imaginable for irreversible harm and injury, this Court finds that the assistance of injunction would beryllium defeated by the hold of issuing notice, and thus, the contiguous lawsuit warrants the contiguous assistance of ex-parte ad-interim reliefs.”
The justice further held that the petitioner had made retired a beardown prima facie lawsuit and that the equilibrium of convenience laic wholly successful Shetty’s favour.
Social media firms told to enactment swiftly
The tribunal besides invoked Rule 3(1) of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, which requires platforms to forestall the hosting of misleading, obscene, oregon impersonating content. This ineligible ground was utilized to nonstop Meta and X Corp to enactment swiftly.
In enactment of the alleviation sought, Mr. Shetty’s counsel, Dr. Birendra Saraf, cited respective precedents wherever courts had recognised property rights, including cases involving Asha Bhosle, Arijit Singh, Anil Kapoor, Jackie Shroff, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, and Karan Johar.
The tribunal acknowledged Mr. Shetty’s stature arsenic a nationalist fig with implicit 3 decades successful the movie industry, a immense societal media following, and marque endorsements. It held that the unauthorised exploitation of his property attributes posed not lone commercialized harm but besides a important hazard to the public, who whitethorn beryllium misled into believing mendacious endorsements.
“The unauthorised exploitation of these attributes, portion straight harming the plaintiff’s commercialized interests, close to privacy, and close to unrecorded with dignity, besides poses a important hazard of harm to the public,” the bid said.
The substance is adjacent listed for proceeding connected November 17, 2025.
