Delhi High Court Protects Personality Rights of Podcaster Raj Shamani

The Delhi High Court on Monday, 17 November 2025, said it would pass an order on a plea filed by podcaster and entrepreneur Raj Shamani seeking protection of his personality rights.

Shamani approached the Court seeking safeguards for the unauthorised use of his name, image, voice and likeness.

Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora heard the matter and passed an injunction restraining several platforms, including. Meta Platforms, Google, X Corp, Telegram and YouTube. The Court also issued summons to these platforms.

Appearing for Shamani, Senior Advocate Diya Kapur argued that AI-generated deepfakes and fake endorsements featuring Shamani were being circulated online. It was further submitted that unauthorised chatbots were impersonating him.

Referring to his podcast Figuring Out with Raj Shamani, Kapur added that certain YouTube channels were misusing clips, logos and branding elements to mislead audiences. She also raised concerns about hashtags and memes being exploited to increase visibility and create confusion.

However, the Court made it clear that it was not, at this stage, issuing any injunction against parody or satirical videos.

 Justice Arora observed that several of the impugned videos “ex facie identify themselves as parody,” and held that clubbing such material with allegations of unauthorised exploitation of personality and publicity rights would “embarrass the trial,” as the nature of the claims and the corresponding defences available to the parties were fundamentally distinct.

It added that any action against parody or satire, if maintainable, would have to be pursued separately, as the legal issues and defences differ significantly.

Counsel for Shamani agreed to examine this aspect and address it at a later stage.

The matter will next be heard on 24 April 2025.

Case Title: RaJ Shamani and Ors v Ashok Kumar

Bench: Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora

Date: 17 November 2025