Bollywood actor Arjun Kapoor on Wednesday approached the Delhi High Court seeking protection of his personality rights against alleged misuse through artificial intelligence and pornographic content. The matter was heard by Justice Tushar Rao Gedela, with Advocate Pravin Anand representing the actor.

During the hearing, Anand informed the Court that several defendants were selling merchandise using Kapoor’s personality traits, including his photos, without permission. He also said that some were sharing sexually explicit material, deepfakes and pornographic content involving the actor. He referred to earlier cases where courts had protected personality rights of public figures like Jubin Nautiyal and Vivek Oberoi.

As the Court reviewed the content, Justice Gedela observed that not everything related to a public figure can be taken down unless it is clearly offensive. Anand argued that the material was not satire but AI-generated, including morphed images of Kapoor with an animal and another showing him selling golgappas. He stated, “Nobody would like that. Not even a common man.”

Responding to this, the Court said, “Common man doesn’t come to court for personality rights. When a person is in public glare, lot of things happen. We can understand if things are disparaging or defamatory. But everything cannot come under that. Otherwise the judgment in DM entertainment will be rendered redundant.” The Court also heard submissions from Google LLC and said a detailed interim order would be passed later.

The High Court has earlier granted similar protection to several public figures, including Allu Arjun, Mohanlal, Pawan Kalyan, Sunil Gavaskar, and Karan Johar.

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