Actor and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Kangana Ranaut approached the Delhi High Court on Thursday seeking the removal of obscene and AI-generated content allegedly circulated about her online.

  Justice Vikas Mahajan issued summons to the defendants named in Ms. Ranaut’s plea, which seeks protection of her personality and publicity rights. The court indicated that it would consider passing an interim order. 

Ms. Ranaut’s counsel told the court that the content included sexually explicit images, fake news and AI-generated material falsely attributing statements to her. The counsel said that while memes and other objectionable satirical material were also being circulated, she was not seeking interim relief against such content. 

Deverakonda’s plea 

The court also issued summons in a separate personality rights case filed by Telugu actor Vijay Deverakonda and said it would consider an interim order in his case. 

Mr. Deverakonda’s counsel alleged that third parties had commercially exploited the actor’s identity without authorisation, including by selling merchandise featuring elements associated with his persona. The counsel also cited AI-generated social media posts, impersonation, false endorsements and abusive language. 

Similar petitions 

Several other public figures, including actors Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan and Salman Khan, Art of Living founder Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, journalist Sudhir Chaudhary, podcaster Raj Shamani, Andhra Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan and cricketer Abhishek Sharma, have previously approached the Delhi High Court seeking protection of their personality and publicity rights. 

The High Court has granted interim protection to these public figures in their respective cases.