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The Delhi High Court on Wednesday granted interim relief to PhysicsWallah founder Alakh Pandey in his personality rights suit, directing the removal of online content that is prima facie obscene, defamatory or commercially exploits his personality without authorisation.
Justice Anup Jairam Bhambhani also directed Google, X and Telegram to disclose the Basic Subscriber Information (BSI) of the accounts and URLs identified by the plaintiff to facilitate further proceedings. Issuing notice on Pandey's plea, the Court passed the interim order after considering a categorised list of allegedly infringing online content submitted by the plaintiff. The Court observed that a detailed order explaining the reasons for limiting the interim protection to specific categories of content would be passed later. "I will be making some observations as to why I am restricting my order to these sets of content. I am not making them now. This order will take a few days," the Court said. The matter has been listed for further hearing in November. During the hearing, Senior Advocate J. Sai Deepak, appearing for Pandey, presented a tabulated chart identifying the allegedly infringing links and the defendants against whom relief was sought. "A picture speaks a thousand words," Deepak submitted while taking the Court through the material placed on record. The senior counsel also pointed to instances of alleged impersonation through a Telegram channel named "Alakh Sir Lectures", submitting that Pandey's name and image were being used without authorisation. He further informed the Court that fake accounts had allegedly been created in Pandey's name on LinkedIn and X. Accepting the plaintiff's categorisation of the material for the purpose of interim relief, the Court directed that content falling within the identified categories of obscene, derogatory and unauthorised commercial use of Pandey's personality be taken down. The Court further directed Google, X and Telegram to furnish the Basic Subscriber Information of the identified URLs and accounts to enable the plaintiff to pursue legal remedies against the operators of the accounts. Pandey, the founder and CEO of edtech platform PhysicsWallah, has approached the High Court seeking protection of his personality rights, alleging widespread unauthorised use of his name, image, facial expressions, voice, teaching style and likeness across digital platforms. According to the suit, fake social media profiles, Telegram channels, stickers, GIFs, edited videos and other online content have allegedly exploited his identity for commercial gain while also circulating obscene and defamatory material that could mislead students and damage his reputation. The plea contends that such unauthorised use amounts to infringement of personality rights and passing off, besides violating his right to publicity and causing irreparable harm to his goodwill built through years of educational outreach. The case also highlights the growing challenge of protecting the digital identities of public personalities in the era of social media, artificial intelligence and user-generated content, with the Court's interim order aimed at preventing further misuse pending adjudication of the suit. (ANI)
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