Delhi HC protects actor Ravi Kishan’s personality rights and curbs unauthorized use of properties
Actor Ravi Kishan. File. | Photo credit: ANI
In an interim relief to Bharatiya Janata Party MP and actor Ravindra Shukla, popularly known as Ravi Kishan, the Delhi High Court has barred several individuals and online platforms from using his name, picture, likeness, voice and other identifying attributes without prior consent.
Justice Jyoti Singh issued the order on July 2 while hearing a plea filed by Mr. Shukla, who alleged that his identity is being widely misused on social media and websites with AI-generated content.
The plea alleged that several entities violated the actor’s personality rights by uploading pornographic content using his name as a keyword on websites and as part of a URL, causing irreparable damage to his public image and reputation.
One of the defendants released audio and video of vulgar songs with subtitles superimposed on a video of the actors at a religious ceremony with a political leader of the state, who wrongly implied that he was a “political middleman”.
Another AI-generated video made fun of Mr Shukla’s diction, the plea said.
The MP from Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh also challenged the unauthorized use of his name, image and likeness for a radio program on Ishq 104.8 FM by misrepresenting him in the radio program “What is Love with Kavi Kishan”.
The court restrained the various defendants from infringing his personality rights, noting that an actor has the exclusive right to protect various attributes of his personality such as name, image, voice, likeness, and prevent third parties from using and commercially exploiting these attributes without his express permission and authorization.
The court pointed out that Mr. Shukla has appeared in more than 750 films across genres, languages and audiences with roles widely recognized across all sections of society.
“Even in the field of politics, the plaintiff (Mr. Shukla) has contributed significantly to the empowerment of youth and has worked for infrastructure development as well as development and reforms in education, cinema and health and has been awarded the Sansad Ratna Award for exemplary performance in parliamentary functions,” the court added.
Published – July 7, 2026 10:05 AM IST