Delhi High Court Grants Permanent Injunction To Aaj Tak's Anjana Om Kashyap In Suit Against 'Fake' YouTube Channel
The Delhi High Court has granted permanent injunction in favour of Anjana Om Kashyap, anchor and Senior Managing Editor of Aaj Tak news channel, in her suit against a “fake” YouTube channel using her news clipping, videos and deepfake impersonations. Justice Tejas Karia decreed the suit filed by Kashyap and TV Today Network Limited, the company which operates Aaj Tak news channel.The...
The Delhi High Court has granted permanent injunction in favour of Anjana Om Kashyap, anchor and Senior Managing Editor of Aaj Tak news channel, in her suit against a “fake” YouTube channel using her news clipping, videos and deepfake impersonations.
Justice Tejas Karia decreed the suit filed by Kashyap and TV Today Network Limited, the company which operates Aaj Tak news channel.
The suit sought permanent injunction for violation of the intellectual property rights, mandatory disclosure against impersonation and misuse of personality rights owned by the news channel and Kashyap.
On June 20, a coordinate bench had granted an ad-interim injunction in favour of the journalist and ordered take down of the YouTube channel operating under the name “AnajanaomKashya.”
Later, despite valid service, the YouTube channel had not appeared through any counsel and Written Statement was also not filed. Accordingly, the entity was proceeded ex-parte.
The counsel appearing for TV Today and Kashyap said that the prayer for damages was not being pressed and thus, prayed that the suit be decreed.
Decreeing the suit, the Court noted that the screenshots and extracts of the YouTube Channel in question demonstrated that the content was being presented in a manner that capitalises upon Kashyap's reputation in the field of news dissemination.
“The fake YouTube channels of a well known organisation or a personality are likely to result in enormous damage and dissemination of misinformation as the same would lack editorial control,” the Court said.
It observed that the YouTube Channel was unauthorisedly using Kashyap's photographs and various fake videos, including purported news clippings etc., in a manner so as to depict that the same were hers. Therefore, Defendant No. 2 is required to be restrained by way of permanent injunction, the Court said.
Justice Karia noted that YouTube had already complied with the interim order and no further directions were required to be passed against Google LLC.
“Accordingly, in view of the above, the Suit is decreed in terms of Prayer in Paragraph No. 85(A) and (B) of the Plaint in favour of the Plaintiffs and only against Defendant No. 2. Let the Decree Sheet be drawn up accordingly. The Suit is disposed of in the aforesaid terms. Pending applications, if any, also stand disposed of,” the Court said.
Title: T.V. TODAY NETWORK LIMITED v. GOOGLE LLC & ORS
Citation: 2025 LiveLaw (Del) 1531