Over the years, several Bollywood celebrities, including Salman Khan, Anil Kapoor, Jackie Shroff, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan, Karan Johar, Nagarjuna, Arijit Singh and Kumar Sanu, have approached courts seeking legal protection for their personality rights.
Their legal battles have largely centred on the unauthorised exploitation of their identities, including the use of their names, photographs, voices and other distinctive attributes. The concerns have also extended to content created using artificial intelligence (AI).
Actor Ananya Panday is the latest celebrity to seek such legal protection. She approached the court after alleging that several businesses were using her photographs and AI-generated content to advertise their products without her permission. The Bombay High Court has now granted her interim relief.
According to Live Law India, the Bombay High Court has directed the removal of objectionable online material that allegedly violates Ananya Panday’s right to privacy.
The actress had filed a petition seeking protection of her personality rights, claiming that several businesses and commercial entities were using her pictures, along with AI-generated photographs and videos, without obtaining her consent.
While granting an ad-interim order, Justice Madhav Jamdar noted that the material in question appeared to violate Panday’s rights to privacy and publicity, besides her moral rights and the fundamental right to live with dignity.
In a similar development, the Delhi High Court recently provided partial interim protection to actor Kriti Sanon against sexually explicit deepfakes, manipulated photographs, fraudulent social media accounts impersonating her and AI chatbots falsely presenting themselves as the actress.
However, the court declined to grant an overarching restriction, pointing out that personality rights cannot be considered one consolidated legal claim.
In an order dated October 29, 2026, Justice Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav limited the protection to specific URLs and identified categories of objectionable content. The court directed digital platforms to take down the links mentioned in the petition and instructed the authorities to block certain websites.
Other defendants were restrained from publishing or circulating fabricated or sexually explicit material involving the actress. The platforms were also directed to furnish relevant user information and IP address records within three weeks.
The court, however, clarified that its directions would not restrict legitimate forms of expression, including news reporting, reviews, criticism, satire, parody or fan-created content.
