Delhi High Court to Issue Interim Order for Removal of Objectionable Content Against Ravi Kishan
The Delhi High Court on Thursday stated that it will pass an interim order directing the removal and takedown of objectionable and obscene content against actor and BJP Member of Parliament Ravi Kishan. The observation was made by Justice Jyoti Singh while hearing Kishan’s interim injunction application filed in a suit seeking protection of his personality rights.
Kishan, represented by Senior Advocate N Hariharan, has instituted a suit against unknown entities as well as several known defendants. He seeks a John Doe relief to restrain unidentified persons from exploiting his personal traits, including his photographs, without his consent. Additionally, he requests the court to restrain the defendants from circulating derogatory content generated through artificial intelligence, including pornographic material that uses his likeness.
Senior Advocate Hariharan informed the Court that various obscene materials in the form of reels and other digital formats have been circulated using Kishan’s personality traits, which are generated through AI tools. He submitted that such content violates the actor’s personality rights and amounts to an unauthorised commercial exploitation of his identity.
The Court, after hearing the submissions, said that it will pass an order directing social media intermediaries to take down the offending content. Justice Jyoti Singh noted that the intermediaries have a duty to act upon notices of infringing material and to comply with directions issued under the Information Technology Act, 2000.
The Bench referred to its recent practice of granting similar relief in cases involving personality rights. It mentioned that it has previously protected the personality rights of political figures such as Congress leader Shashi Tharoor and Deputy Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh Pawan Kalyan. The Court also cited orders passed in favour of entrepreneur Aman Gupta, Telugu actor Allu Arjun, Malayalam actor Mohanlal, spiritual preacher Aniruddhacharya, singer Jubin Nautiyal, former cricketer Sunil Gavaskar, and actors Kajol Devgan, R Madhavan and NTR Junior.
Justice Singh further observed that a similar suit has been filed by actor Salman Khan seeking protection of his personality rights against unauthorised use of his image and AI‑generated content. The coordinate benches of the Delhi High Court have also passed orders safeguarding the personality rights of Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, founder of The Art of Living, Telugu actor Nagarjuna, Bollywood actors Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Abhishek Bachchan, film producer Karan Johar, journalist Sudhir Chaudhary, and podcaster Raj Shamani.
The Court clarified that the interim order will be limited to directing the removal of the specific objectionable content identified in the suit and will not constitute a final determination on the merits of the personality‑rights claim. It emphasized that the order is intended to prevent further dissemination of the alleged infringing material while the substantive proceedings continue.
Parties were directed to file their respective affidavits and documents within the time stipulated by the Court. The matter has been posted for further hearing to consider any objections to the proposed takedown direction and to assess the scope of the John Doe relief sought by the plaintiff.