Delhi High Court orders takedown of fake Sunil Gavaskar quotes, unauthorised merchandise

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday passed an interim injunction directing social media platforms Meta and X Corp, along with several e-commerce platforms, to take down posts and listings that falsely attribute quotes to former India captain Sunil Gavaskar and sell unauthorised merchandise using his name. The order was passed by Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora in a suit filed by Gavaskar seeking protection of his personality rights, as per Bar and Bench report.

According to the complaint, several social media accounts had circulated “fake and fabricated quotes” attributed to Gavaskar, including critical comments on Indian men’s cricket team coach Gautam Gambhir and other cricketers. The plea also flagged a fabricated comment attributed to Gavaskar on Virat Kohli. Gavaskar submitted that such content “seriously jeopardises his credibility as a broadcaster and cricket commentator, particularly when it relates to current affairs”.

The Court directed Meta to ensure that users take down the infringing URLs within 72 hours, failing which the platform itself would be required to remove the content. “A similar direction has been issued to X Corp,” the order stated. On the previous date of hearing, the Court had directed Gavaskar to provide the offending URLs to Google, Meta and X, and instructed the platforms to act on his takedown requests within one week.

The complaint also highlighted unauthorised commercial exploitation of Gavaskar’s name and persona. It stated that “fake autographed materials and photographs” were being sold online, with consumers being charged for products that had “no connection whatsoever with Sunil Gavaskar”. The Court consequently directed e-commerce sellers to remove listings that misuse Gavaskar’s name to sell merchandise.

During Tuesday’s hearing, Senior Advocate Gopal Jain, appearing for Gavaskar, informed the Court that Basic Subscriber Information and IP logs of the users behind the infringing content had been shared with him. Following this submission, the Court directed Gavaskar to take steps to amend the memo of parties in order to implead the concerned users.

Gavaskar’s plea seeks directions restraining various entities from unauthorised use of his name, image and persona. The suit notes that such misuse amounts to infringement of his personality rights and commercial exploitation without consent.

Gavaskar has become the first cricketer to approach the court in a personality rights litigation. In recent years, several celebrities including Amitabh Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan, Nagarjuna, Anil Kapoor, Jackie Shroff, Karan Johar, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Jaggi Vasudev and, most recently, Salman Khan have obtained similar protective orders from the Delhi High Court.

Senior Advocate Gopal Jain appeared for Gavaskar and was briefed by Krida Legal’s Managing Partner Vidushpat Singhania, Managing Associates Aashita Khanna and Kartikeya Prasad, and associates Aanya Agarwal and Karunakar.