Delhi HC directs Meta to remove morphed photo of woman with PM
The Delhi High Court on Friday directed Meta platforms to immediately remove objectionable content of a woman’s morphed picture posted on social media with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and ordered police to provide complete protection to the victim.
Justice Girish Kathpalia observed that this is an “extraordinary position” in which the matter is not of one woman but also of the country’s prime minister. “If the Delhi Police is not sensitive about it, the court will ensure it becomes sensitive,” he further noted.
The high court also issued notice to Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) leaders Saurav Das, Abhijit Dipke, Ashutosh Ranka and Ratna Singh on a plea by the woman alleging that they circulated her morphed and explicit picture with the prime minister.
The court, which listed the matter for further hearing on October 14, directed the police to give complete police protection to the woman, who submitted that she was receiving threats to her life.
The woman’s plea accused the CJP leaders of morphing and circulating her deepfake vulgar pictures with Prime Minister Modi.
The plea sought to take down certain fabricated and deepfake pictures purportedly showing the woman’s morphed face in vulgar images alongside the prime minister.
Her lawyer said that an FIR has already been registered in this regard. However, he contended that no concrete steps were taken to apprehend those responsible or to secure the immediate takedown or blocking of the viral deepfake links.
“During recent protests held by the Cockroach Janta Party at Jantar Mantar, New Delhi, respondents No. 2 to 5 (CJP leaders) along with their active accomplices unauthorisedly harvested the personal photograph of the petitioner and utilised Artificial Intelligence (AI) face-swapping tools to morph her face onto a highly vulgar, compromising image alongside the Prime Minister of India,” the plea said.
At the outset, Justice Kathpalia said the issue relating to the takedown of the objectionable content has to go to the civil court. However, he added that, looking at the sensitivity involved, the victim woman should not be made to run from one place to another and the entire prayers will be dealt with here itself.
It is not just her face. Of course she is a victim.
“The other face should have also been blurred (in record). In such matters, I would not have entertained it because you have alternative remedies available but it is not just a matter of the lady but also about the prime minister of the country,” the judge said.
The court asked the woman to give her exact address to the investigating officer and directed the police to provide her complete protection in all possible and practical manner.
The court issued notice to Meta Platforms and directed it to remove within 24 hours the objectionable content on its social media platforms.
Regarding the woman’s right to compensation, the court said, in view of the legal position that for an illegality committed during a demonstration, the victim has a right to claim compensation from the organisers of the protest, and made clear that the pendency of this petition will not preclude her from claiming any other relief for which she is entitled under law.
The court also directed the Delhi Police to file its status report within a week, giving the exact details of the action taken in the matter and further asked the court registry to redact the victim’s name and web links from the petition and annexures.
The petitioner’s counsel submitted that some persons morphed her photographs in a highly obscene and objectionable manner and created images depicting her by the side of the prime minister.
He contended that those photos, according to the woman, were displayed widely along with obscene and derogatory slogans in the recently organised illegal demonstration of CJP at Jantar Mantar.
He said the demonstration was organised by the CJP leaders and the morphed pictures were uploaded on Meta Platforms’ social media platforms against her consent.
The woman alleged that the CJP leaders ran a vicious, coordinated cyber-assault and public character assassination using deepfake technology.
“The perpetrators printed physical banners of this morphed picture, paraded them in massive crowds, raised sexually suggestive and derogatory slogans and maliciously uploaded videos onto Instagram and other social media platforms,” the plea said.
