Delhi HC restrains misuse of 'Pookie Baba' Aniruddhacharya’s persona online

The Delhi High Court has granted interim relief to preacher Aniruddhacharya, popularly known as ‘Pookie Baba’, by protecting his personality rights and restraining the unauthorised use of his name, voice and image across digital platforms.

In an order dated March 30, Justice Tushar Rao Gedela directed social media platforms including Meta, X and Google to take down content flagged by the plaintiff that allegedly misused or imitated his persona, including memes, videos and material created using AI or deepfake technologies.

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The court observed that a strong prima facie case had been made out, noting that Aniruddhacharya is a well-known public figure whose reputation and goodwill have been built over decades of spiritual teachings.

Rejecting the defence of parody, the court said the content in question appeared to be disparaging and infringed upon his personality and publicity rights. It added that the apprehension of damage to his image and reputation was “real and present”.

“The unauthorised use of a person’s name, voice, image and mannerisms constitutes an infringement of personality and publicity rights,” the court said, adding that denial of immediate relief would cause irreparable harm that could not be compensated monetarily.

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In his plea, Aniruddhacharya alleged that multiple entities were exploiting attributes of his personality without consent or authorisation to derive commercial gains and benefit from his established goodwill. He further submitted that fabricated and misleading content was being circulated to falsely indicate his endorsement or association with fraudulent schemes.

(With inputs from TOI)