The Bombay High Court has barred the unauthorised use of actor Samantha Ruth Prabhu’s name, image and voice, and ordered the takedown of AI-generated deepfakes and morphed content built around her identity.

Justice Madhav Jamdar granted interim protection in her personality-rights suit. The judge held that her personality and publicity rights are protected under Articles 19(1)(a) and 21 of the Constitution, and her moral rights as a performer under Section 38B of the Copyright Act.

The suit targets 18 defendants, including Meta Platforms, Google, Amazon, AI platforms and e-commerce entities, along with unknown “John Doe” parties. The IT Ministry and the Department of Telecommunications were also made parties so the directions can be enforced.

Samantha’s lawyers told the court her photographs had been morphed into obscene videos and audio clips through AI tools, and that interactive AI chatbots used her identity.

The suit is listed for further hearing on December 10, and adds to a growing set of Indian court orders protecting celebrities’ personality rights.