The Delhi High Court has refused to grant BJP Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha a blanket interim order directing the removal of all alleged defamatory content circulating online.
The Court held that the dispute primarily concerns political criticism rather than personality rights, while ordering the takedown of some posts found objectionable.
Raghav Chadha approached the High Court seeking protection against AI-generated deepfakes, manipulated videos, morphed images, synthetic voice clips and other digital content allegedly circulated after his political shift from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
According to Chadha, several social media posts falsely suggested that he had changed political parties for money, damaging his reputation. He sought an injunction against unidentified individuals and other defendants.
Justice Subramonium Prasad clarified that the case did not involve personality rights.
Pronouncing the interim order, the Court said,
“There is no personality right involved. I have ordered the removal of five documents. The remaining content is not defamatory prima facie.”
The Court reiterated its earlier view that most of the challenged material amounted to criticism of a political decision rather than unauthorized commercial use of Chadha's identity. During earlier hearings, the bench had observed that there is a distinction between defamation claims and protection of personality rights, adding that political leaders are often subject to public criticism.
The Delhi High Court directed the removal of some online posts identified by Chadha but declined to issue a broader interim order against all the disputed content.
It held that, at this stage, the remaining material did not warrant protection under personality rights law.
Case Title: Raghav Chadha v. Ashok Kumar John Doe and Others
