Delhi High Court limits Janhvi Kapoor's bid to erase online pornographic content

The Delhi High Court ordered the removal of clearly pornographic material linked to Janhvi Kapoor but rejected her request for a sweeping ban on fan pages and a dynamic injunction.

In a hearing before the Delhi High Court, Justice Anup Jairam Bhambhani issued an interim order that mandates the deletion of webpages containing material he described as "ex facie pornographic, obscene, prurient, lascivious" that appear to monetize Janhvi Kapoor's likeness. Kapoor’s petition, which targeted more than 5,000 URLs, also sought to block impersonation accounts, AI-generated porn, and fake booking services.

The court asked her lawyers to provide a tabulated list of the offending sites, but refused a blanket injunction covering all fan pages or a dynamic removal order for continuously emerging content. Meta, through Advocate Varun Pathak, contended that manually reviewing such a volume is unfeasible and cautioned the court against treating the platform as a content regulator. Justice Bhambhani warned that over-broad restrictions could threaten free speech and suggested the case could help define the boundaries of celebrity personality rights.

He also raised questions about the intersection of copyright and personality exploitation. The matter will return to the Delhi High Court on August 17.