The Delhi High Court has restrained unknown individuals from using Sri Sri Ravi Shankar’s name, voice, image, or likeness in AI-generated content. The interim order safeguards the guru’s personality rights and prevents misleading videos from circulating.
New Delhi: The Delhi High Court recently took a strong stance to protect the personality rights of spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar in a case concerning the misuse of his image, voice, and likeness in deepfake and Artificial Intelligence (AI)-generated content.
The case was heard by Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora, who passed an interim injunction restraining unknown individuals from exploiting the guru’s persona without authorization.
ALSO READ: Rajasthan Police Probing Own Officials for Illegal Delhi Arrests, Tells Delhi High Court
The Court noted that
“irreparable harm will be caused to Ravi Shankar if defendants are not restrained from publishing and circulating such deepfake content.”
It emphasized that unauthorized AI-generated content misrepresenting a person can cause serious damage to their reputation and mislead the public.
Justice Arora further stated,
“Defendant No. 1 [John Doe]… are restrained from infringing the plaintiff’s personality rights and publicity rights by utilizing and/or in any manner directly and/or indirectly using or exploiting or misappropriating the plaintiff’s (a) name ‘Ravi Shankar’ or ‘Sri Sri Ravi Shankar’ (b) voice; (c) image; (d) likeness; (e) unique style of discourse and delivery; and/or (f) any other attribute which is exclusively identifiable with him, for any commercial and/or personal gain and/or otherwise by exploiting them in any manner whatsoever without the plaintiff’s consent and/or authorization.”
This legal action followed a petition filed by Ravi Shankar, seeking urgent intervention to block fabricated digital content that allegedly misrepresented him.
According to the petition, some videos created between July and August 2025 falsely depicted him promoting questionable remedies for serious health conditions and attributed unverified scientific research and miraculous cures to him.
These manipulations, he argued, misrepresented his teachings and identity while potentially misleading the public.
The Court carefully considered Ravi Shankar’s arguments, highlighting the serious risk of reputational damage caused by such deepfake videos.
By granting the interim injunction, the Court has provided immediate protection to the guru’s rights over his name, image, voice, likeness, and unique style of teaching.
Senior Advocate Nikhil Sakhardande, along with advocates Pooja Tidke, Pranav Sarthi, Ashish Venugopal, Apoorva Singh, and Prachi Dhingra, represented Ravi Shankar in the proceedings.
On the other side, defendant numbers 2 and 3 were represented by advocates Chetanya Puri, Anand Awasthi, and Nisha Puri, while defendant number 4 was represented by advocates Varun Pathak, Yash Karunakaran, and Tanuj Sharma.
The interim order reflects the growing concern in India’s legal system over the misuse of advanced AI technologies to manipulate public figures’ identities. Legal experts have welcomed the decision as a significant step in protecting personality rights in the digital age.
With the rising cases of AI-generated content globally, this ruling sends a strong signal that courts are ready to act swiftly to safeguard individual rights against unauthorized exploitation, ensuring that reputation and identity are not compromised by modern technology.
Case Title:
Ravi Shankar v John Doe(s) / Ashok Kumar(s) & Ors,
Read Order:
Click Here to Read Previous Reports on Mahatma Gandhi
