Others

Continuing the discussion on an almost unending spate of personality rights filings (first part and second part), in the third part of the post, Aakanksha turns to fandom, fan merchandise, and fan participation in celebrification – and to some hopes for free speech uses of celebrity personality. Dr. Aakanksha Kumar (She/Her) is an independent researcher and academic. Since 2019, she has designed and taught a self-created elective course across law schools titled Comparative Celebrity Laws: Personality, Publicity and Free Speech

In the first part of this three-part post, Aakanksha discussed the standard, overbroad prayers in almost every personality rights suit, and the August 2026 orders that have begun to dismantle them. In this second part, she examines the reasons for the concentration of these suits in the DHC and engages with the Court’s three questions in Aaradhya Bachchan. Dr. Aakanksha Kumar (She/Her) is an independent researcher and academic. Since 2019, she has designed and taught a self-created elective course across

The Delhi High Court has been seeing what can be termed an almost unending spate of personality rights filings, but there’s now a fork in the road that recent orders over the past month are recognising. In this three-part post, Dr. Aakanksha Kumar argues that “personality rights” in India is not a single cause of action but a salad platter of analytically distinct claims, and reads the August 2026 orders as the first sign that the platter is finally being