(Pic courtesy: Facebook/ @Aniruddhachary Ji Maharaj)
NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court has safeguarded the personality rights of preacher Aniruddhacharya, also known as ‘Pookie’ Baba, and restrained the unauthorised use of his name, voice, and image for memes, videos, or any other content. Justice Tushar Rao Gedela passed the interim order on March 30 following a lawsuit filed by Aniruddhacharya. The court directed social media platforms, including Meta, X, and Google, to remove the content identified by the plaintiff that unlawfully used or imitated his persona, according to news agency PTI. The court noted that there was prima facie a strong case in favour of the plaintiff, who is a well-known, popular, and widely respected personality. It stated that the content flagged by him was not “mere parody” and appeared to be disparaging and infringing on his personality rights. The court observed that the apprehension of dent and damage to the image and personality of the plaintiff, prima facie, appeared to be real and present. Aniruddhacharya alleged that several entities were misappropriating his personality without authorisation, licence, or consent, with the ulterior motive of deriving illegal commercial gain and free-riding on his goodwill, commercial value, and reputation.
His counsel added that certain deceptive and fabricated content was being circulated to falsely suggest that he endorsed or was associated with fraudulent schemes, and spurious goods and services. Further, the distortion and misrepresentation of his teachings in these posts resulted in a loss of goodwill among his devotees and followers and had the potential to mislead members of the public, the lawyer said.
