The Delhi High Court on Friday (December 12) asked social media to treat the case filed by former Indian captain Sunil Gavaskar to protect his identity and publicity rights as a formal complaint and take a decision on it within a week under the Information Technology Rules, 2021.
A single-judge bench of Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora gave the direction after Gavaskar approached the Delhi High Court alleging misuse of his name, photographs and images on social media and e-commerce platforms.
After Sunil Gavaskar’s lawyer submitted a list of infringing content, Justice Arora said those seeking immediate removal of objectionable online content should take advantage of the provisions provided under the 2021 IT Rules before seeking judicial intervention.
The justice said, “You are aware of my order, right? You have to approach the channels first. Let them process your complaint. I don’t know why the parties are not using those provisions. We can consider it after 10 days. They can examine your complaint till then, and you can come back. This will resolve your complaint to a great extent.”
In its order, the Delhi High Court said Gavaskar has sought relief against several individuals or entities, including the social media platform and the unidentified ‘John Doe’ entity responsible for uploading the infringing content.
The court directed, “Defendants 7, 11, and 10 are directed to treat the complaint as per the Information Technology Rules, 2021 and decide the same within a week. The plaintiff is directed to provide the sought URLs to the social media platform within 48 hours from today.”
The order comes a day after the Delhi High Court passed a similar direction in a case filed by Bollywood actor Salman Khan. Salman Khan had sought relief against fake news, AI generated content and commercial misuse of his name, picture and voice. In that case too, Justice Arora had asked the media to take action within three days and said that a stay order would soon be given to those who do not violate social media.
The Gavaskar case joins the growing list of high-profile people who are exercising their personality and rights before the Delhi High Court. In recent weeks, actor Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao, Art of Living founder Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, actors Nagarjuna, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan, filmmaker Karan Johar, and podcaster Raj Shamani have secured court protection against the unconscionable use of their identities, likenesses, or AI-generated imitations.
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