A Single bench of Delhi High Court comprising of Justice C Hari Shankar dismissed the petition filed by the late actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s father while saying that “to fasten a legal right, on something as fleeting as a celebrity, appears to be an oxymoron”

The Delhi high court on Wednesday denied halting the screening of the movie ‘Nyay: The Justice’, based on Sushant Singh Rajput, holding that his publicity and privacy rights are not heritable and have ended with his demise.

The movie Nyay has been released on OTT platform Lapalap in June 2021.

It was added that “law cannot allow itself to be a vehicle to promote celebrity culture”.
The Court further said that “It does not appear permissible, in our constitutional scheme which guarantees equality to individuals and in which equality is a cherished preambular goal, to countenance an extra bundle of rights which would be available for enjoyment only to celebrities”.

It was further stated that “Rights which emanate from one’s personality and persona would be available to one and all, not only to celebrities,” he added.

On the publicity and the fame, the bench also dismissed the interlocutory injunction suit by the late actor’s father against streaming of the film by producers and director, saying that “even assuming the film does infract the publicity rights of Rajput, or defames him, the infracted right is personal to Rajput, and cannot be said to have been inherited by his father”.

The Court also said that “The movie cannot be said to be infracting Article 19(2) of the Constitution of India. Injuncting further dissemination of the movie would, therefore, infract the defendants’ rights under Article 19(1)(a)”.