India, Sept. 17 -- Over the past couple of years, it has become almost routine to read about a celebrity, sportsperson or politician approaching a court for relief from a deepfake, an AI voice clone, or unauthorised use of their likeness, and receiving swift relief.That remedy rests on personality rights, adoctrine courts have built almost entirely around famous people. Ordinary citizens have no such recourse. The law offers them no clear right to assert, and most could not afford to litigate one even if it did. As AI makes it possible to recreate almost anyone's face, voice and mannerisms with startling accuracy, India needs remedies that give every citizen meaningful control over their own digital image, voice, and likeness. It has never been easier to fake a real person. What happens if you find yourself in this situation? Indian courts have developed important protections against the unauthorised use of a person's likeness, but almost entirely through cases involving celebrities and public figures. Those decisions recognise personality rights linked to reputation and commercial goodwill. Earlier this year, the Delhi High Court refused to grant these rights to a CLAT 2026 topper, holding that a singular achievement does not confer enforceable personality rights. For most ordinary citizens with neither fame or commercial goodwill, that kind of protection is far less certain. Existing laws deal with aspects of the harms that digital likenesses can create, but do not completely fill this gap. Criminal law (in this context) deals with impersonation, obscenity and non-consensual sexual imagery. February 2026's amendments to the IT Rules add labelling and takedown duties for AI generated content. The data protection law governs how organisations process personal data. None of them squarely help with addressing the problem - if someone digitally clones you and circulates that version without your consent, how do you make it stop? The Supreme Court has held that privacy is a fundamental right, covering informationalprivacy or control over how your personal information is gathered and used. That understanding evolved in an era when the primary concern was collecting information about people. Today, anyone can build a convincing copy of youat near-zero cost. What is at risk is no longer only the data in a database, it is your identityand dignity online. We need a right that allows every person to control the digital use of their face, voice and likeness. It matters most for ordinary people with no lawyers on call, and for smaller artists, creators and performers, whose face or voice is the very thing that earns their living. They should be able to control their voice, image and likeness on their own terms. Importantly, this is not only about preventing misuse. It is equally about enabling legitimate use. Individuals should remain free to license their own likeness, authorise AI recreations and earn from those uses if they choose. The decision should belong to the individual, not to whoever possesses the technology to recreate them. Denmark is considering a proposal to amend their copyright law to give every citizen a right over their own face, voice and likeness. In the US, there are ongoing discussions around the NO FAKES Act that would create a separate property right over your digital likeness. India can build its own unique approach. A right is only as good as the system that enforces it. Enforcement can build on the takedown machinery that large online intermediaries already have in place. The remedies should be practical, not punitive: swift takedowns, injunctions and compensation for demonstrable harm, without years of costly litigation. At the same time, robust safeguards must preserve satire, parody, current affairs, research, artistic expression and other forms of legitimate speech. The fundamental principle should be based on the idea that undoing a digital fake should be as easy as making one. If creating your AI clone takes minutes, removing it shouldn't take months or cost a month's wages. The technology needed to identify and verify digital likeness already exists. The phone in your pocket already recognises your face to unlock and sorts your photos by who is in them. This tech can protect an ordinary citizen but the legal framework that puts it to work to benefit ordinary people is missing. Whether India regulates digital likeness is no longer the question. Through a lengthening line of injunctions and court orders, it already does, but only for those who can reach a courtroom. The task now is to extend it to the rest of us. The law shouldn't value a face because it is famous, but because it belongs to someone....