Bollywood filmmaker Karan Johar has moved the Delhi High Court seeking protection of his personality rights, alleging rampant misuse of his name, photographs, and likeness on social media platforms and websites without consent. The case was heard today by Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora, when Senior Advocate Rajshekhar Rao appeared for Johar and alleged that his name was being misused to raise funds.
Karan Johar moves Delhi HC
Appearing for Johar, Senior Advocate Rajshekhar Rao argued that the filmmaker`s identity was being exploited, with his pictures and name being misused to raise funds and operate unauthorised fan pages. “There is a line between making fun and exploitation. The more the memes, the more viral it is, the more money you make. I have a right to ensure that none uses my persona or characteristics without my consent,” Rao contended.
Karan pointed out that “various pages on various platforms are in my name,” stressing that the misuse extended beyond memes to monetised activity. Justice Arora noted the concerns and indicated that the Court could pass take-down orders for specific infringing pages, while cautioning against granting a blanket injunction. The Judge clarified that Johar was free to return to Court if fresh violations arose, remarking: “If they don`t act, you come to Court.”
Emphasising a focused approach, Justice Arora observed: “Disparagement, obscenity, misuse of personality rights, domain names, we can take it up. Someone is selling merchandise. These are three things: if you specifically identify, this Court will order.” The Bench also indicated that a mechanism could be put in place to address future violations. “We can ask them to take action within 24 hours,” said Justice Arora.
“The only thing we have to do is, when we pass the order today, it will be for specific pages. For any other pages, you can give them a notice, and they will take them down. In case they do not take them down, you can come back to Court,” added Justice Arora.
Counsel for Meta Platforms, Advocate Varun Pathak, cautioned against sweeping orders, arguing that many flagged posts were not defamatory.
Other celebs who sought personality rights
Before KJo, actors like Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan seeked protection. In past, actors like Jackie Shroff and Anil Kapoor also safeguarded their personality rights. In another landmark ruling in 2022, the Delhi High Court had restrained the “world at large” from exploiting Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan’s name, image, voice, or any of his personality attributes without prior authorisation.
