Delhi HC to pass order protecting personality rights of Bollywood star Aishwarya Rai
The Delhi High Court on Tuesday hinted that it will issue an interim order protecting the personality/publicity rights of Bollywood actress Aishwarya Rai Bachchan.
New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Tuesday hinted that it would issue an interim order protecting the personality/publicity rights of Bollywood actress Aishwarya Rai Bachchan. A single-judge Bench of Justice Tejas Karia was hearing a lawsuit filed by Aishwarya Rai seeking protection of her name, image, likeness, persona, and other distinctive attributes of her personality from commercial misuse by various entities, including online platforms.
Senior advocate Sandeep Sethi, appearing for the Bollywood star, argued that her image, name, and other elements of her persona are being used without consent not only to sell merchandise but also for pornographic purposes. “It is shocking.
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Her morphed pictures are being used. It is all AI generated. The defendant is collecting money by putting my face and name,” Sethi submitted. He pointed to a firm named Aishwarya Nation Wealth, which had used her photograph on its letterhead and falsely designated her as its chairperson. He further drew attention to websites offering Aishwarya Rai’s wallpapers and photographs, and to another defendant selling T-shirts featuring her images.
After hearing the submissions, Justice Karia said the Delhi High Court would likely pass an ad-interim injunction against the defendant entities. A detailed order is yet to be uploaded on the Delhi High Court’s official website. The matter is scheduled for further hearing on January 15, 2026.
In May this year, the Delhi High Court ordered an ad-interim injunction in favour of Bollywood actor Jackie Shroff, restraining various entities from infringing his personality rights. It had held that selling autographed pictures of Jackie Shroff prima facie infringed upon his personality right and directed that the defendant e-commerce website be restrained from selling such merchandise. It further said that selling wallpapers was prima facie violative of the plaintiff’s personality rights.
