Delhi High Court Tackles AI Deepfakes: Kangana Ranaut and Vijay Deverakonda Seek Personality Rights

The delhi high court is hearing petitions from public figures seeking to protect their personality and publicity rights from AI-generated misuse. On October 8, 2026, BJP MP Kangana Ranaut and Telugu actor Vijay Deverakonda approached the court, and Justice Vikas Mahajan issued summons to the defendants in both cases, indicating that interim orders would be considered (The Hindu, National Herald).

What the Two Petitions Actually Seek

Kangana Ranaut: Obscenity and False Attribution

Ranaut’s plea asks for the removal of obscene and AI-generated content, including sexually explicit images, fake news, and material falsely attributing statements to her. Importantly, her counsel drew a line between harmful deepfakes and satire, clarifying that she was not seeking interim relief against memes or other objectionable satirical material (The Hindu).

Vijay Deverakonda: Commercial Identity Theft

Deverakonda’s separate suit targets unauthorised commercial exploitation. His senior counsel alleged that third parties were selling merchandise featuring attributes associated with his persona without permission, alongside AI-generated social media posts, impersonation, false endorsements, and abusive language (National Herald).

Interim Relief and Judicial Precedent

As of October 8, 2026, the court had issued summons but had not yet passed final interim orders; it indicated it would consider them. The Delhi High Court has previously granted interim protection in similar personality rights cases to Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan, Salman Khan, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Sudhir Chaudhary, Raj Shamani, Pawan Kalyan, and Abhishek Sharma (The Hindu).

Aspect	Kangana Ranaut	Vijay Deverakonda
Core grievance	Obscene AI content, fake news, false statements	Unauthorised merchandise, impersonation, false endorsements
Satire/memes	Not seeking interim relief	Not the stated focus
Court action (Oct 8, 2026)	Summons issued; interim order to be considered	Summons issued; interim order to be considered

Why Personality Rights Matter Here

Personality rights allow individuals—especially public figures—to control the commercial use of their name, image, likeness, and other identifying attributes. In an era of generative AI, the line between protected satire and unlawful identity theft has become harder to draw. The Ranaut petition explicitly excludes memes and satire from interim relief, while the Deverakonda suit focuses on unauthorised merchandise and false endorsements. Together, they show the court parsing different categories of harm: reputational and emotional injury from explicit fakes versus economic loss from commercial impersonation.

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