DELHI HIGH COURT has instructed social media intermediaries to take action within seven days on Sunil Gavaskar’s plea seeking protection of his personality rights. Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora asked Gavaskar’s counsel to first raise the grievances directly with the platforms.
The Court directed that Gavaskar’s suit be treated as a formal complaint under the Information and Technology (Intermediaries Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, requiring platforms to respond and act within the specified timeline.
If any intermediary has objections to a particular link flagged by Gavaskar, it must inform him. Gavaskar has also been directed to share all relevant URLs within 24 hours to facilitate the takedown process.
Gavaskar moved the High Court to stop the unauthorised use of his name, image, likeness and persona on social media platforms and e-commerce sites, asserting his right to publicity, commonly referred to as personality rights, which protects an individual’s ability to control and commercially benefit from their public identity.
Several public figures, including Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan, Jaya Bachchan, Hrithik Roshan, Ajay Devgn, Karan Johar, Kumar Sanu, Akkineni Nagarjuna, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Sudhir Chaudhary and Raj Shamani, have recently sought similar protection, receiving interim relief from the Court. Actors Salman Khan and NTR Jr have also approached the Delhi High Court with similar petitions.
