Why in News?

• The Delhi High Court has refused to injunct further telecast of the movie alleged to be based on late actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s life.
• The suit prayed for permanent injunction upon further telecast of film.
• The court made the observations in the matter of Krishna Kishore Singh v. Sarla A Saraogi & Ors.

Background

• The suit is regarding the telecast of a movie “Nyay: The Justice” based on late Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s (SSR) life which was released on OTT platform Lapalap in June 2021.
• The suit sought a decree of permanent injunction restraining the defendants and all others from using actor’s name, caricature lifestyle in any projects or films without the prior permission of the plaintiff (Father of SSR).
• The plaintiff alleged that any such effort would infringe the privacy rights of the actor and also cause deception in the minds of the public.
  • The rights contested in the suit are the right to privacy, the right to publicity and the personality rights of the actor.

Court’s Observations

• The bench observed that the privacy rights ventilated in the plaint vested in the actor, are not heritable. They died with the death of the actor hence plaintiff cannot claim them.
• Court promoting equality between common person and celebrity said that the law cannot allow itself to be a “vehicle to promote celebrity culture” and that the rights which emanate from one’s personality would be available to one and all, and not only to celebrities.

Legal Provisions

Right to Privacy

• The Right to Privacy is enshrined under Article 21 which affirms Right to Life and Personal Liberty.
• In M. P. Sharma v. Satish Chandra (1954) and Kharak Singh v. Union of India (1962), the court stated that Right to Privacy is not a fundamental right.
• However, the court remarked in Kharak Singh v. Union of India (1962) that Article 21 (right to life) was the repository of residuary personal rights and recognized the common law right to privacy.
• Further, the Apex Court in the case of Justice K. S. Puttaswamy v. Union of India (2017) stated that Right to Privacy is a fundamental Right.
• The abovementioned judgment led to crusade for a separate legislation for protection of data.
• The Union Cabinet recently approved the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Bill, 2023, to be tabled in Parliament in the upcoming Monsoon session of 2023.

Permanent Injunction

• An injunction is a remedy granted by the court that prohibits the commission of a wrong or the continuance of a wrongful course of action already begun.
• A permanent injunction is granted by the decree of the court, and upon the examination of the facts and merits of the case.
• It is also known as perpetual injection.
• Permanent injunctions are governed by Sections 38 to 42 of the Specific Relief Act, 1963.
• Its major purpose is to give conclusive and long-term relief.