Delhi HC Grants Permanent Injunction to Anjana Om Kashyap Against Fake YouTube Channel

The Delhi High Court has issued a permanent injunction in favour of senior journalist and Aaj Tak Managing Editor (Special Projects) Anjana Om Kashyap, restraining a YouTube channel that was impersonating her through deepfake technology.

Justice Tejas Karia passed the order while dealing with a suit filed by T.V. Today Network Ltd. and Kashyap alleging misuse of her personality rights, deepfake videos, and unauthorised use of her photographs.

The Court noted that an unknown individual operating the YouTube channel “@AnajanaomKashya” had been using fabricated news clips, altered videos, and images in a manner that deliberately misrepresented them as content created or endorsed by Kashyap.

The Court had earlier granted an ad-interim injunction on June 20, 2025 and directed Google LLC to take down the channel and disclose the basic subscriber information of the uploader.

In its final order, the High Court emphasised the grave risk of misinformation posed by such impersonation, especially when it involves a well-known journalist.

Justice Tejas Karia observed that, “The screenshots and extracts of the YouTube Channel demonstrate that the content is being presented in a manner that capitalises upon Plaintiff No. 2’s reputation in the field of news dissemination. The fake YouTube channels of a well-known organisation or a personality are likely to result in enormous damage and dissemination of misinformation as the same would lack editorial control.”

The Court further added that the impugned channel was “unauthorisedly using the photographs of Plaintiff No. 2 and various fake videos, including purported news clippings… depicting that the same are of Plaintiff No. 2”, and therefore Defendant No. 2 must be restrained through a permanent injunction.

It was noted that Google LLC had already complied with all earlier directions, including taking down the channel and furnishing subscriber details. However, the impersonator (Defendant No. 2), despite service, did not appear and was proceeded ex parte.

The Court thus went on to decree the suit in favour of the plaintiffs.

"Accordingly, in view of the above, the Suit is decreed in terms of Prayer in Paragraph No. 85(A) and (B) of the Plaint in favour of the Plaintiffs and only against Defendant No. 2. Let the Decree Sheet be drawn up accordingly. The Suit is disposed of in the aforesaid terms. Pending applications, if any, also stand disposed of,” the Court added.

For Plaintiffs: Mr. Hrishikesh Baruah, Mr. Kumar Kshitij, Mr. Utkarsh Dwivedi, Mr. Yashaswy Ghosh, Mr. Anurag Mishra, Ms. Pragya Agarwal and Ms. Nishtha Sachan, Advocates.

For Defendants: Ms. Mamta R Jha and Ms. Shruttima Ehersa, Advocates for D1.

Case Title: T.V. TODAY NETWORK LIMITED & Anr vs GOOGLE LLC & ORS.

Bench: Justice Tejas Karia

Hearing Date: 19 November