New Delhi, 01 July (H.S.): The Delhi High Court has declined to grant interim relief to Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha in his plea seeking protection of his personality rights. However, the Bench of Justice Subramonium Prasad directed the removal of five allegedly defamatory social media posts identified by Chadha.

The court had reserved its verdict on Chadha's petition on May 21. During the hearing, Justice Subramonium Prasad had observed that criticism of Chadha's political decisions did not, prima facie, amount to a violation of his personality rights. The High Court had noted that criticism of a politician's decisions could not be treated as an infringement of personality rights and suggested that Chadha could pursue a defamation suit if he believed the content was defamatory.

Raghav Chadha had approached the Delhi High Court seeking protection of his personality rights, alleging that artificial intelligence (AI) and deepfake technology were being used to create and circulate unauthorized images and videos featuring him. In his petition, he claimed that his morphed face was being used to fabricate speeches falsely attributed to him.

Previously, the Delhi High Court has passed similar orders protecting the personality rights of several public figures by restraining the unauthorized use of their names, images, likenesses, or other identifiable attributes. These include Congress leader Shashi Tharoor; actors Arjun Kapoor, Allu Arjun, Mohanlal, Salman Khan, Ajay Devgn, Vivek Oberoi, Nagarjuna, Abhishek Bachchan, Kajol, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Sonakshi Sinha and Jaya Bachchan; spiritual leader Aniruddhacharya; Indian cricket team head coach and former MP Gautam Gambhir; former cricketer Sunil Gavaskar; Patanjali Ayurved's Acharya Balkrishna; yoga guru Baba Ramdev; Andhra Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan; journalist Sudhir Chaudhary; Art of Living founder Sri Sri Ravi Shankar; and filmmaker Karan Johar.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar