Gavaskar moves Delhi HC seeking protection of personality rights

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Friday asked social media intermediaries to treat a suit filed by former Indian cricket legend Sunil Gavaskar seeking protection of his personality and publicity rights as a formal complaint, and to decide on it within a week under the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021.

A single-judge Bench of Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora passed the direction after Gavaskar approached the Delhi High Court alleging misuse of his name, photographs and likeness across social media and e-commerce platforms.

Following the submission of a list of infringing content by Gavaskar’s counsel, Justice Arora reiterated her recent position that individuals seeking urgent takedown of objectionable online content must first avail the mechanism provided under the 2021 IT Rules before seeking judicial intervention.

“You know about my order, no? You have to first approach the intermediaries. Let them act on your complaint. I don’t know why parties are not using that mechanism. We can take this up after 10 days. They can examine your complaint by then, and you can come back. It will largely take care of your grievance,” the judge orally remarked.

In its order, the Delhi High Court noted that Gavaskar has sought relief against several defendants, including social media platforms and unidentified ‘John Doe’ entities responsible for uploading the infringing content.

“The defendants 7, 11 and 10 are directed to treat the plaint as a complaint as per the 2021 IT Rules and decide it within one week. The plaintiff is directed to provide to the social media platforms the URLs in respect whereof the takedown is prayed for within 48 hours from today,” the court directed.

The order comes a day after the Delhi High Court passed an identical direction in a suit filed by Bollywood actor Salman Khan, who had sought relief against fake news, AI-generated content and commercial misuse of his name, image and voice. In that case, too, Justice Arora asked intermediaries to act within three days and noted that a stay order would soon follow for non-social media violators.

The Gavaskar case adds to a growing list of high-profile personalities invoking their personality and publicity rights before the Delhi High Court. In recent weeks, actor Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao (Jr NTR), spiritual leader and Art of Living founder Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, actors Nagarjuna, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan, filmmaker Karan Johar, and podcaster Raj Shamani have secured court protection against unauthorised use of their identity, likeness, or AI-generated imitations.

IANS