The Delhi high court has protected the personality rights of Gautam Gambhir, head coach of the Indian men’s cricket team, restraining entities from using his persona without his consent.
A bench of Justice Jyoti Singh in a March 25 order, released on Saturday, observed that Gambhir is among India’s most decorated cricketers, and that unauthorised content and merchandise deriving commercial value from his considerable goodwill and reputation amounts to a violation of his personality and publicity rights.
The court directed the entities to take down the infringing content within 36 hours. “...[Gambhir] has represented India in 242 international matches across Tests, ODIs, and T20Is and is most remembered for his match-winning innings in the 2007 ICC World Twenty20 Final and 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup Final...”
Justice Singh said after retirement, Gambhir transitioned into a different role of mentorship and coaching and was appointed head coach in July 2024. “...under his stewardship, India won the ICC Champions Trophy, 2025, Asia Cup, 2025, and ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, 2026,” the court said.
Gambhir sought protection of personality rights, citing a coordinated campaign involving digital impersonation, AI-generated deepfakes, and unauthorised commercial exploitation of his persona. He said there has been a sharp rise in fabricated digital content relating to him across platforms such as Instagram, X, YouTube, and Facebook since 2025.
Gambhir said multiple accounts used AI tools, including face-swapping and voice-cloning technologies, to create realistic videos falsely portraying him as making statements he never made. He referred to a fabricated “resignation announcement” that reportedly garnered over 2.9 million views. Gambhir said e-commerce platforms were facilitating the sale of posters and merchandise bearing his name and likeness without authorisation.
{{/usCountry}}Gambhir said multiple accounts used AI tools, including face-swapping and voice-cloning technologies, to create realistic videos falsely portraying him as making statements he never made. He referred to a fabricated “resignation announcement” that reportedly garnered over 2.9 million views. Gambhir said e-commerce platforms were facilitating the sale of posters and merchandise bearing his name and likeness without authorisation.
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