New Delhi, May 21 (H.S.): The Delhi High Court on Thursday reserved its verdict on a plea filed by Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha, who recently shifted from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), seeking protection of his personality rights.

During the hearing, Justice Subramonium Prasad observed that criticism of a political decision cannot automatically amount to a violation of personality rights. The Court told Chadha that if he believes his reputation has been harmed, he may seek relief through a defamation suit.

Raghav Chadha approached the Delhi High Court seeking protection of his personality rights, alleging that his photographs and videos were being used without authorisation through artificial intelligence (AI) and deepfake technologies. In his petition, he stated that morphed images and manipulated videos featuring his face were being circulated to falsely attribute statements and speeches to him.

Earlier, the Delhi High Court had passed similar orders protecting the personality rights of several prominent public figures. These include Congress leader Shashi Tharoor, actor Arjun Kapoor, Telugu actor Allu Arjun, spiritual preacher Aniruddhacharya, Malayalam film actor Mohanlal, Indian cricket team head coach and former MP Gautam Gambhir, Patanjali Ayurved’s Acharya Balkrishna, actress Sonakshi Sinha, yoga guru Baba Ramdev, actress Kajol, actor Vivek Oberoi, Andhra Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan, former cricketer Sunil Gavaskar, actor Salman Khan, actor Ajay Devgn, actress and MP Jaya Bachchan, journalist Sudhir Chaudhary, Art of Living Foundation founder Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Telugu actor Nagarjuna, actress Aishwarya Rai, actor Abhishek Bachchan, and film producer Karan Johar.

In those cases, the Court had directed that no aspect related to their personality, image, likeness, or identity be used without prior permission.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar