Delhi High Court decrees Amitabh Bachchan's personality rights suit with a permanent injunction

The Delhi High Court has decreed Amitabh Bachchan v. Rajat Nagi & Ors., granting a permanent injunction against unauthorised commercial use of Bachchan's persona, including his name, image and voice. The order was passed on 5 November 2026 by Justice Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav, who held that the defendants used Bachchan's "very name and photographs" for commercial gain.

Four defendants settled: Rajat Nagi, developer of the "Amitabh Bachchan Video Call" app; Manoj Publications, which issued a quiz book; Tamatina, which sold posters; and Mahesh Patel, who registered amitabhbachchan.in. Four more were decreed against for non-appearance: Rana Partab Singh, Swag Shirts, Raghu Sharma and Dynadot. The decree was extended to John Doe defendants, covering unidentified infringers. MediaNama reports that Bachchan sought damages but does not state an amount or any award. The report does not describe AI-generated or deepfake content in this case; the misuse at issue involved an app, a quiz book, posters and a domain name, alongside what the court called ongoing anonymous misuse across websites, apps, posters and messaging platforms.

Why it matters for digital humans: This is the case that started it. The 2022 interim order in this suit is the precedent the Delhi High Court has since leaned on in a run of 2026 orders against AI deepfakes of Indian public figures, and its final decree consolidates that reasoning into a standing judgment. The operative mechanism for anyone building or hosting likeness tools is the John Doe extension: an injunction that reaches unidentified future infringers turns takedown from litigation into enforcement, and platforms and avatar vendors serving Indian users are the parties who receive those notices.