Delhi HC bars unauthorised use of preacher Aniruddhacharya’s name, voice, image

New Delhi: Delhi High Court has protected the personality rights of preacher Aniruddhacharya, also popular as ‘Pookie Baba’, and restrained the unauthorised use of his name, voice and image for creating memes, videos or any other content, including AI or deepfake content.

On March 30, Justice Tushar Rao Gedela issued an interim order in response to a lawsuit filed by Aniruddhacharya, which is now available.

The court also directed social media platforms Meta, X and Google to take down content identified by the plaintiff that unlawfully used or imitated his persona.

Observing that a strong prima facie case was made out, HC said the plaintiff was a well-known and widely accepted public figure whose personality, reputation and goodwill had been built over decades of spiritual teachings.

The court held that the content flagged by Aniruddhacharya was not “mere parody” but appeared to be disparaging and infringing his personality and publicity rights. It noted that the apprehension of damage to his image and reputation was “real and present”.

“The unauthorised use of a person’s name, voice, image and mannerisms constitutes an infringement of personality and publicity rights,” the court said, adding that failure to grant immediate relief would result in irreparable harm that could not be compensated monetarily.

Aniruddhacharya alleged that several entities were misappropriating the attributes of his personality without authorisation, licence or consent, with the motive of deriving illegal commercial gain and free-riding on his immense goodwill, commercial value and reputation. He submitted that certain deceptive and fabricated content was being circulated to falsely suggest that he endorsed or was associated with fraudulent schemes.