Bombay High Court Protects Godwoman Radhe Maa's Personality Rights

The Bombay High Court has granted interim protection to self-styled godwoman Sukhwinder Kaur, popularly known as Radhe Maa, against the circulation of morphed images, sexually explicit content and manipulated material misusing her identity.

Justice Madhav J Jamdar passed the ad-interim order on November 3, directing Google, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and GIF platform Tenor to remove infringing content identified in the suit.

"The right to life as contemplated under Article 21 of the Constitution of India includes the right to live with dignity. The Plaintiff's right to live with dignity is affected by the impugned actions," Justice Jamdar observed.

Radhe Maa approached the court alleging that several individuals were using her name, image and likeness without authorisation to create and circulate fake, morphed and sexually explicit content.

Her counsel submitted that some of the content involved superimposing her face and voice on a woman made to resemble her.

The suit also concerns morphed and manipulated images, distortion of her recorded discourses and devotional performances, and GIFs bearing her image and likeness. Some of the material was allegedly hosted on dedicated websites whose operators concealed their identities.

Her counsel argued that the content was obscene, defamatory and derogatory. It falsely depicted and demeaned her, causing grave prejudice to her dignity, reputation and goodwill as a spiritual leader.

The court found that the material on record clearly showed violations of her personality, publicity and moral rights. It also held that the creation and circulation of such content, including the use of her face and voice in fabricated material, infringed these rights.

The court observed that her personality and publicity rights stemmed from the protections under Articles 19(1)(a) and 21 of the Constitution. Her moral rights under Section 38-B of the Copyright Act, 1957, had also been prejudicially affected.

The platforms must remove the infringing content identified in Exhibit E to the suit within the timelines prescribed under the Information Technology Rules.

They must also act on written notifications from Radhe Maa or her authorised representative concerning further content that is identical, substantially identical or a mirror of the material already identified, including content re-uploaded through different URLs.

The platforms can raise objections to such removal, provided they communicate their reasons. Radhe Maa has been given liberty to approach the court if any such objection is raised.

The platforms' counsel also informed the court that Google would implement the direction concerning Tenor, which is wholly controlled by Google.

The platforms have been given eight weeks to file their replies. Radhe Maa can file a rejoinder within four weeks thereafter, if required.

The ad-interim protection will continue until further orders. The matter is next listed on February 2, 2027.