Delhi HC protects Ajay Devgn's personality rights, orders takedown of objectionable contents
New Delhi, Nov 27 (PTI): The Delhi High Court on Thursday protected the personality rights of Bollywood actor Ajay Devgn by restraining several websites and online platforms from illegally using his name or images for commercial gain without his consent.
The high court also restrained several defendants from using the personality traits of Ajay alias Vishal Veeru Devgan through the use of artificial intelligence and deepfake technology, and ordered the taking down of certain obscene content uploaded on the Internet.
Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora said she will pass a detailed interim order in the matter.
Advocate Pravin Anand, representing the actor, said the defendants were indulging in the production of commercial merchandise, including caps, stickers and posters, impersonating Devgn and images showing him with other celebrities in an unpleasant manner.
During the hearing, the court asked the plaintiff's counsel whether they had lodged a protest with defendants YouTube and Google regarding the unpleasant content against the actor on YouTube.
As the counsel replied in the negative, the judge said she will make an observation in the order that henceforth, all the plaintiffs will first lodge a protest with the social media intermediaries before approaching the court.
The court also said that it will order the taking down of obscene and profane content but images which were mere reproductions cannot be ordered to be removed at this stage without hearing the parties concerned.
The court also issued summonses to several defendants in the suit.
It was hearing a plea by Devgn seeking to protect his personality rights and restrain online platforms from illegally using his name, images and AI-generated inappropriate and sexually explicit content.
The suit relates to misappropriation, without consent, of various aspects of Devgn's personality, including his name, image, likeness, persona and voice by the defendants for their commercial gains.
The right to publicity, popularly known as personality rights, is the right to protect, control and profit from one's image, name or likeness.
Recently, Bollywood actors Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, her husband Abhishek Bachchan, his mother Jaya Bachchan, Hrithik Roshan, filmmaker Karan Johar, singer Kumar Sanu, Telugu actor Akkineni Nagarjuna, 'Art of Living' founder Ravi Shankar, journalist Sudhir Chaudhary and podcaster Raj Shamani also approached the high court seeking protection of their personality and publicity rights. The court granted them interim relief.
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Trouble ‘Miyas’ everywhere only then they will leave Assam: Himanta Biswa Sarma
Says “Himanta Biswa Sarma, BJP are openly against them, we are saying it openly
New Delhi: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Tuesday said that four to five lakh “Miya voters” would be removed from the electoral rolls in the state once the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter lists is carried out. He also made a series of controversial remarks openly targeting the Miya community, a term commonly used in Assam in a derogatory sense to refer to Bengali-speaking Muslims.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of an official programme in Digboi in Tinsukia district, Sarma said it was his responsibility to create difficulties for the Miya community and claimed that both he and the BJP were “directly against Miyas”.
“Four to five lakh Miya votes will have to be deleted in Assam when the SIR happens,” Sarma said, adding that such voters “should ideally not be allowed to vote in Assam, but in Bangladesh”. He asserted that the government was ensuring that they would not be able to vote in the state.
The chief minister was responding to questions about notices issued to thousands of Bengali-speaking Muslims during the claims and objections phase of the ongoing Special Revision (SR) of electoral rolls in Assam. While the Election Commission is conducting SIR exercises in 12 states and Union Territories, Assam is currently undergoing an SR, which is usually meant for routine updates.
Calling the current SR “preliminary”, Sarma said that a full-fledged SIR in Assam would lead to large-scale deletion of Miya voters. He said he was unconcerned about criticism from opposition parties over the issue.
“Let the Congress abuse me as much as they want. My job is to make the Miya people suffer,” Sarma said. He claimed that complaints filed against members of the community were done on his instructions and that he had encouraged BJP workers to keep filing complaints.
“I have told people wherever possible they should fill Form 7 so that they have to run around a little and are troubled,” he said, adding that such actions were meant to send a message that “the Assamese people are still living”.
In remarks that drew further outrage, Sarma urged people to trouble members of the Miya community in everyday life, claiming that “only if they face troubles will they leave Assam”. He also accused the media of sympathising with the community and warned journalists against such coverage.
“So you all should also trouble, and you should not do news that sympathise with them. There will be love jihad in your own house.” He said.
The comments triggered reactions from opposition leaders. Raijor Dal president and MLA Akhil Gogoi said the people of Assam had not elected Sarma to keep one community under constant pressure. Congress leader Aman Wadud accused the chief minister of rendering the Constitution meaningless in the state, saying his remarks showed a complete disregard for constitutional values.
According to the draft electoral rolls published on December 27, Assam currently has 2.51 crore voters. Election officials said 4.78 lakh names were marked as deceased, 5.23 lakh as having shifted, and 53,619 duplicate entries were removed during the revision process. Authorities also claimed that verification had been completed for over 61 lakh households.
On January 25, six opposition parties the Congress, Raijor Dal, Assam Jatiya Parishad, CPI, CPI(M) and CPI(M-L) submitted a memorandum to the state’s chief electoral officer. They alleged widespread legal violations, political interference and selective targeting of genuine voters during the SR exercise, describing it as arbitrary, unlawful and unconstitutional.
