Bollywood actor Sonakshi Sinha. File | Photo credit: PTI
The Delhi High Court has protected the personality rights of Bollywood actor Sonakshi Sinha by restraining several platforms, including AI chatbots, from making unauthorized use of her image, voice or any other attributes of her person.
Judge Jyoti Singh also restrained the sale of goods using her name or image without consent and cashing in on her goodwill and reputation.
The court ordered the offending parties to remove the web links within 36 hours.
In a preliminary order issued on March 20 on Ms Sinha’s plea, the court said the actor has the right to protect her name, likeness and all other attributes of her personality.
No third party has the right to use these attributes without her consent or permission, the court noted.
The actor said that two American platforms deployed several chatbots impersonating her and generating lewd and lascivious content.
Some other entities, including unknown ones, were using her name, likeness, image, voice etc. for unauthorized commercial and impermissible non-commercial purposes by falsely associating and endorsing the actor, she said.
In the order, the court said that it is its prima facie opinion that the defendants unlawfully and unlawfully used and exploited various elements of Ms. Sinha’s personality for illegal and unauthorized business gains, without her consent.
She further stated that hosting images with inappropriate clothing and obscene content using artificial intelligence tools caused irreparable damage to her reputation, and the unauthorized use of her name to sell inferior goods could also damage her good name and reputation.
The court said that a celebrity’s right to consent is a major source of livelihood that cannot be destroyed by allowing illegal dissemination, such as the sale of merchandise or other items that bear their faces or other features of their personalities, without their legal permission.
“Defendants Nos. 1 to 17, including the John Does, are prohibited from using and/or in any way directly or indirectly exploiting or misrepresenting Plaintiff’s: (i) Sonakshi Sinha’s name; (ii) image; (iii) voice; and (iv) likeness and/or any other attribute of her person, without her permission or consent, but not limited to artistic use, including artistic use, for any commercial, commercial and Intelligence, generative artificial intelligence, machine learning, Deepfakes, AI Chatbots, Face Morphing and/or any other media and formats, which constitutes violation of personality/publicity rights of the plaintiff,” the court ordered.
“The defendants are also prohibited from selling their goods and/or other items using the elements and attributes of the plaintiff, which are exclusively identified with her, and/or issuing their goods by monetizing the good will and reputation of the plaintiff and misrepresenting the public,” the court further stated.
Published – 24 March 2026 15:00 IST
