Delhi High Court Protects Kajol's Personality Rights, Bans Unauthorised Use Of Her Name, Image & Voice

The Delhi High Court granted interim relief to Bollywood actress Kajol, protecting her personality and publicity rights from unauthorised use. In an order dated February 20, Justice Jyoti Singh restrained several websites, social media platforms and AI-based services from using Kajol’s name, image, voice, likeness or any other identifiable attributes without her consent.

According to a report in Bar and Bench, the actress had filed a commercial suit against multiple entities, including e-commerce platforms, social media accounts and artificial intelligence services. Among those named in the case were Kash Collective, Pinkswag, Nazrrco, Amazon, Meta Platforms Inc., YouTube, SpicyChat.ai and Talkie-ai.com.

Kajol alleged that these platforms were selling merchandise featuring her name and photographs, generating AI-based content and chatbots using her persona, and hosting morphed as well as pornographic material. She also informed the Court that she holds trademark registrations for the mark “KAJOL” and sought protection of her personality and publicity rights, along with statutory trademark and common law rights against passing off.

After reviewing the material presented, the Court reportedly observed that Kajol had established a strong case for temporary protection and noted that failure to grant relief could cause irreparable harm to her reputation.

"Kajol is entitled to protection against dissemination of morphed and pornographic content as well as AI generated images portraying her in inappropriate clothing, false settings and inappropriate scenarios with other celebrities in the film industry. Such a distasteful content is harming and damaging the reputation of the Plaintiff and may mislead the public into believing what is depicted may be true," observed the Court.

The HC specifically barred the unauthorised use of variations of her name, including "Kajol", "Kajol Mukherjee", "Kajol Devgan" and "Kajol Mukherjee Devgan". It also restrained the defendants from exploiting her image, voice and likeness for commercial or personal gain, including through artificial intelligence tools, deepfakes and AI chatbots.

E-commerce platforms such as Kash Collective, Pinkswag, Nazrrco and Amazon have been directed to immediately stop selling and remove merchandise bearing her name or image. Additionally, social media platforms and websites have been instructed to take down the flagged content within 72 hours and disclose details of the accounts involved.

The Court further ordered the Department of Telecommunications and the Union Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology to block and disable the identified websites within 72 hours of receiving the order.

The matter will next be heard on April 23, 2026.