The Delhi High Court has on Friday asked major social media intermediaries to act on former Indian cricketer Sunil Gavaskar’s plea seeking protection of his personality rights by treating his suit as a formal complaint and deciding on it within a week. Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora has made the direction after Gavaskar’s counsel submitted a chart outlining alleged infringing activities, including the sale of his photos by one of the defendants.
The court has noted as per media reports that parties must first approach intermediaries before seeking judicial intervention. Justice Arora has orally observed that once the platforms examine the complaint, it would largely address the grievance, adding that the matter can be taken up after ten days.
The court has also recorded that reliefs have been sought against multiple defendants, including john doe entities uploading content on platforms belonging to defendants 7, 11 and 10. It has directed these platforms to treat the complaint as a complaint under the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, and decide the matter within one week. The plaintiff has been directed to share the specific URLs for takedown within 48 hours.
A similar order was passed yesterday in a suit filed by actor Salman Khan seeking protection of his personality rights. The court has recently clarified that individuals wanting urgent takedown of objectionable online content must first approach the platforms before seeking court orders.
Read more: Salman Khan Moves Delhi High Court Seeking Protection Of Personality Rights
On December 8, actor Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao (NTR Junior) has also moved the court seeking similar protection, following which Justice Arora has directed social media and e-commerce platforms to treat his suit as a complaint under the 2021 IT Rules.
In recent weeks, coordinate benches of the High Court have protected the personality rights of several public figures, including Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, actors Nagarjuna, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan, and filmmaker Karan Johar. Justice Arora has also protected the rights of journalist Sudhir Chaudhary over allegedly misleading and AI-generated videos, and has granted a john doe order in favour of podcaster Raj Shamani, noting his prominence in India’s content creation space.
Also read: Personality Rights In The Spotlight: Why Celebrities Are Suing Over Their Likeness
