Bombay HC Reserves Verdict On Suniel Shetty’s Plea To Safeguard Personality Rights

Bollywood actor Suniel Shetty has approached the Bombay High Court seeking protection of his personality rights, aiming to prevent the unauthorised use of his name, image, and likeness on social media and various websites. On Friday, the court reserved its order on his plea.

A single-judge bench, led by Justice Arif S Doctor, briefly heard arguments from senior advocate Birendra Saraf, representing the 64-year-old actor. The judge remarked, “It is scary what people can do with the unregulated use of AI on social media.” An ex parte ad-interim order is expected in due course.

Shetty’s petition cites instances of deepfake content, including a viral image showing him with his grandchild. According to reports by Bar and Bench, the actor highlighted

how several social media pages and websites were using his photographs to promote businesses without consent.

The actor, who has appeared in over 100 films, has filed a commercial intellectual property rights infringement suit against multiple social media platforms, websites, and unknown individuals, describing the situation as “extensive and ongoing infringement and unauthorised commercial exploitation” of his persona.

The plea details how AI-generated images, deepfake videos, and counterfeit merchandise such as T-shirts and posters have used Shetty’s likeness without authorisation. The content is reportedly linked to real estate, gambling, astrology websites, and other commercial ventures.

Saraf argued that the unauthorised use of Shetty’s image and deepfake content is causing irreparable harm to his reputation and the goodwill he has built over decades. “The infringement acts are causing irreparable harm to the plaintiff’s immense goodwill built carefully over the years,” the plea states.

The petition further contends that these websites exploit Shetty’s persona for commercial gain, undermining his reputation and contractual commitments. The actor has requested a permanent injunction to stop all misuse of his name, image, likeness, voice, or other personal attributes, including AI-generated or deepfake content. He has also sought orders to remove infringing content and prevent the manufacture or sale of counterfeit merchandise.

Several other celebrities, including Aishwarya Rai, Abhishek Bachchan, Amitabh Bachchan, Karan Johar, and Akkineni Nagarjuna, have recently approached courts to safeguard their personality rights. Earlier this month, the Bombay High Court protected playback singer Asha Bhosle from unauthorised use of her image and voice, including via AI, stating that such acts violate a person’s identity rights.

Personality rights allow individuals to control the commercial and public use of their identity, protecting attributes like name, image, likeness, voice, signature, or catchphrases. These rights are generally divided into the right of publicity, which prevents unauthorised commercial use, and the right to privacy, which guards against misuse such as deepfakes, morphed images, or fabricated endorsements.