New Delhi: Bollywood star Aishwarya Rai Bachchan has moved the Delhi High Court seeking protection of her personality rights and a restraint on the unauthorised use of her name, images, and likeness, including through artificial intelligence-generated content.
According to reports, her petition urged the court to stop individuals and entities from misusing her identity for commercial gain or in misleading contexts without consent. The plea highlighted that her name and photographs were being used across platforms in violation of her rights, with the growing misuse of AI-generated content posing additional threats to her privacy and dignity.
The matter came up for hearing on Tuesday, where her counsel submitted instances of unauthorised usage to the court. The petition stressed that Aishwarya Rai, being a globally recognised public figure, is particularly vulnerable to impersonation and exploitation of her persona, which can mislead the public and cause irreparable harm to her reputation.
The court has begun considering the plea but has not issued any interim directions so far. The case adds to a series of recent legal actions by celebrities in India who have sought judicial intervention to safeguard their image rights in the digital era. In the past year, similar protection was granted to actors Anil Kapoor and Amitabh Bachchan’s granddaughter Aaradhya Bachchan, while filmmaker Karan Johar also moved court over misuse of his name.
The petition underscores the larger challenge of balancing freedom of expression with protection of personality rights in the age of deepfakes and synthetic media. The Delhi High Court is expected to continue hearing the matter in the coming days.
