The Delhi High Court has passed a significant interim order protecting the personality rights of popular preacher Aniruddhacharya, widely known on social media as ‘Pookie’ Baba. Justice Tushar Rao Gedela, presiding over the matter on March 30, restrained various entities from the unauthorized use of the preacher’s name, voice, image, and persona for creating memes, videos, or any other content, including AI-generated and deepfake material.
The court further directed major social media platforms, including Meta, X (formerly Twitter), and Google, to remove the offending content identified by the plaintiff that unlawfully used or imitated his persona.
The lawsuit was filed by Aniruddhacharya, who alleged that several entities were misappropriating his personality attributes without any authorization, license, or consent. According to the plaintiff, these actions were driven by an “ulterior motive of deriving illegal commercial gain” and “free-riding” upon his established goodwill and reputation.
Counsel for the preacher submitted that deceptive and fabricated content was being circulated to falsely suggest Aniruddhacharya’s endorsement of fraudulent schemes and spurious goods. The lawyer emphasized that the distortion of his teachings in these posts not only resulted in a loss of goodwill among his followers but also carried the potential to mislead the general public.
Upon reviewing the materials, Justice Tushar Rao Gedela opined that there was a strong prima facie case in favor of the plaintiff, recognizing him as a “well-known, popular and well-accepted personality.”
Crucially, the court distinguished the flagged content from protected forms of expression. The court stated that the nature of the content was not “mere parody” and instead appeared to be “disparaging and infringing his personality rights.”
The court further observed that the apprehension of “dent and damage to the image and personality of the plaintiff” appeared to be “real and present,” necessitating judicial intervention to prevent further unauthorized commercial exploitation of his identity.
