Gavaskar Moves Delhi HC Seeking Protection Of Personality Rights

Gavaskar moves Delhi HC seeking protection of personality rights (Image Source: IANS)

Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora: The Delhi High Court on Friday asked social media intermediaries to treat a suit filed by former Indian cricket legend Sunil Gavaskar seeking protection of his personality and publicity rights as a formal complaint, and to decide on it within a week under the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021.

A single-judge Bench of Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora passed the direction after Gavaskar approached the Delhi High Court alleging misuse of his name, photographs and likeness across social media and e-commerce platforms.

Following the submission of a list of infringing content by Gavaskar’s counsel, Justice Arora reiterated her recent position that individuals seeking urgent takedown of objectionable online content must first avail the mechanism provided under the 2021 IT Rules before seeking judicial intervention.

"You know about my order, no? You have to first approach the intermediaries. Let them act on your complaint. I don’t know why parties are not using that mechanism. We can take this up after 10 days. They can examine your complaint by then, and you can come back. It will largely take care of your grievance," the judge orally remarked.

In its order, the Delhi High Court noted that Gavaskar has sought relief against several defendants, including social media platforms and unidentified ‘John Doe’ entities responsible for uploading the infringing content.

"You know about my order, no? You have to first approach the intermediaries. Let them act on your complaint. I don’t know why parties are not using that mechanism. We can take this up after 10 days. They can examine your complaint by then, and you can come back. It will largely take care of your grievance," the judge orally remarked.

The order comes a day after the Delhi High Court passed an identical direction in a suit filed by Bollywood actor Salman Khan, who had sought relief against fake news, AI-generated content and commercial misuse of his name, image and voice. In that case, too, Justice Arora asked intermediaries to act within three days and noted that a stay order would soon follow for non-social media violators.

Article Source: IANS