Tabloids Tango With The Tombstoned: A Jurisprudential Waltz Through India’s Posthumous Media Landscape
- IJLLR Journal
- Jan 15
- 2 min read
Rhea Thakur, O.P. Jindal Global University (Jindal Global Law School)
Introduction
Does the right to dignity outlive an individual? Scattered judicial observations and judgements have addressed the issue, but the question remains largely unanswered, exposing a significant hiatus concerning the protection of personal legacy within India’s media-related regulatory framework. This paper aims to examine the complex and often overlooked intersection between press freedom and posthumous personality rights. It highlights the ethical and legal tensions that arise when the media transgresses and engages with the deceased. While Section 228 (A) of the Indian Penal Code nominally offers protection to victims of sexual offenses, its limited scope and archaic framing renders it inadequate in addressing challenges posed by India’s current media landscape, where lived experiences are amplified, monetized, and sensationalized. The lack of clear statutory safeguards facilitates commodification of grief and trauma, more often than not prioritizing profit and publicity. This study analyses how media outlets exploit structural gaps in the law by turning private tragedies into a public spectacle and how, despite the development of India’s legal mechanisms over time, demonstrating a progressive orientation toward enabling economically disadvantaged groups to access justice, such protections remain insufficient in the present case. Socio-economic disparities compound injustice, essentially emphasizing that only those with significant resources can aspire to pursue such legal remedies. This analysis ultimately calls for a comprehensive legislative reform that extends posthumous privacy rights and codifies the principle that an individual’s right to dignity does not end with death. It insists that constitutional guarantees of free speech and press freedom must be carefully balanced against human dignity and the respect owed to a person’s memory, ensuring that rights are safeguarded even in the face of commercial pressures.
I. What Are Posthumous Personality Rights?
The concept of posthumous rights refers to the everlasting legal recognition and protection of an individual’s persona even after their death. The purpose of these rights encompass the protection of a deceased’s name, likeness, image, voice and other distinctive personal attributes, preventing any unauthorized commercial exploitation. These rights safeguard the dignity, legacy and economic interests transferred to any heirs or estates. It recognizes one’s personality as a form of intellectual property—not inheritable in nature—balancing public interest and the right to free expression along with that of families and estates.
Prior to a more in-depth analysis, it is integral to understand that posthumous personality rights must be analytically distinguished from defamation and reputational claims, which traditionally extinguish upon death under Indian law. 7Unlike defamation, which is concerned with reputational injury, posthumous personality rights focus on unauthorized commercial and representational use of an individual’s identity.
