The Bombay High Court held that Shatrughan Sinha’s iconic “Khamosh” dialogue is exclusively connected to his personal identity alone. It further prohibited using his name, images, voice or any other personal attributes to create online content without consent.
MUMBAI: The Bombay High Court stated that actor-politician Shatrughan Sinha’s signature Khamosh dialogue is exclusively associated with his persona.
In an interim ruling issued on February 16, Justice Sharmila Deshmukh directed all websites and social media platforms to immediately remove any content using Sinha’s name, images, or personal attributes without his permission.
The full details of the order became available on Saturday.
The petition, submitted by Advocate Hiren Kamod, sought to protect Sinha’s personality rights and requested a permanent injunction against unauthorized use of his name, image, and other personal identifiers, including his iconic punchline “Khamosh” (silence).
The court emphasized that Sinha possesses a distinctive dialogue delivery style, particularly recognized for the uniqueness of his “Khamosh” expression onscreen.
The High Court remarked,
“It needs no reinforcement that the expression ‘Khamosh’ which was delivered by the Plaintiff (Sinha) in his unique and distinct style in one of his films is associated exclusively with the Plaintiff’s persona,”
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Earlier, Actor and Lok Sabha MP Shatrughan Sinha has filed a petition in the Bombay High Court seeking protection for his personality rights, claiming widespread online misuse of his name, image, and his famous dialogue “Khamosh” (silence!).
Additionally, Citing his ‘Right to privacy’ under Article 21 of the Constitution and ‘Performers’ rights’ as outlined in the Copyright Act, Sinha contended that his performances are being altered in ways that could harm his reputation.
Case Title: Shatrughan Prasad Sinha v. John Doe, Meta, & Ors.