Delhi High Court has granted the protection of the personality rights of Gautam Gambhir, who is the present coach of Indian men cricket team, against the use of his identity by others and organizations without his prior permission. In a decision issued by Justice Jyoti Singh on March 25 and published later, the order highlights the increasing anxieties on digital abuse of identities of public figures.
In the case, the court pointed to the fact that Gambhir was one of the most successful cricketers in the history of India, and any commercial exploitation of his name, picture or image is a clear infringement of his personality and publicity rights. The court also ordered the involved parties to take down all the infringed material in a period of 36 hours.
Justice Singh was not ignorant of the cricketing legacy of Gambhir, his involvement in 242 international matches, his memorable performance during the 2007 ICC World T20 and 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup final matches. This court also acknowledged his seamless move into coaching as under his leadership, India won such big tournaments like the ICC Champions Trophy 2025, Asia Cup 2025 and ICC Men T20 world cup 2026.
Gambhir had gone to the court on the basis of a growing number of digital impersonations such as AI-generated deepfakes and fabricated content that was being shared on the Internet, such as Instagram, X, YouTube, and Facebook since 2025. He mentioned the presence of distorted videos through face swapping and voice cloning technologies such as a fake resignation video that had millions of views.
Also, the plea emphasised the unlicensed merchandise sale with his image on online stores. The decision of the court is meant to prevent this abuse and protect the image and identity of the former cricketer.