Bombay High Court Orders Removal Of Obscene Content Against Radhe Maa In Her Personality Rights Suit

The Bombay High Court on Tuesday (November 3) protected the personality and publicity rights of self-styled godwoman and popular spiritual leader Sukhvinder Kaur famous as Radhe Maa.

Single-judge Justice Madhav Jamdar has ordered the respondents Google and other entities to pull down all the objectionable content posted on the internet, which has prejudiced her personality and moral rights.

In his order, Justice Jamdar noted that Radhe Maa, who is a follower of Shri Mahanta Ramdeen Das 1008, from over three decades now, has a considerable number of devotees across India and even abroad.

Representing Radhe Maa, senior advocate Venkatesh Dhond submitted a list of infringing URLs which included obscene and sexually explicit content which violates her privacy and moral rights. He submitted that the content from these infringing URLs besides being obscene, defamatory and derogatory also falsely depicts her, causing grave damage to her dignity and reputation as a popular spiritual leader. He pointed out that Radhe Maa, who is usually seen in a red attire and a trishul in her hand and red tilak on forehead has a 'distinct personality.'

"Perusal of the material on record clearly shows that her personality rights, moral rights and publicity rights are violated by the said content. Including content created by superimposing her face and using her voice on another woman's body... The Plaintiffs personality and publicity rights are protected by Article 19(1)(a) right to free speech... Right to privacy and right to life too protected.... Her right to live with dignity has been breached.... Her moral rights too are prejudiced.... Thus, a strong case made for ad-interim relief as prayed," Justice Jamdar observed in the order.

Accordingly, the respondents Google, the Ministry of Electronics and Information & Technogly and the Department of Telecommunication, Government of India have been ordered to ensure all the objectionable content, as flagged by Radhe Maa, are removed from the internet.