Delhi HC orders Meta to pull morphed photo of woman with PM, issues notice to CJP leaders
Delhi High Court directs Meta to remove morphed images of a woman with the PM, issues notice to four CJP leaders and orders police protection for the complainant.
The Delhi High Court on Friday directed Meta Platforms to immediately take down objectionable morphed content showing a woman alongside Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while issuing notice to four leaders of the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) on a plea alleging that they created and circulated the images.
Justice Girish Kathpalia, hearing the matter, observed that the case involved an extraordinary situation, since it concerned not only an individual woman but also the office of the Prime Minister. The court remarked that if the Delhi Police were not sensitive to the gravity of the matter, it would ensure that the force became sensitive to it.
Notice was issued to CJP leaders Saurav Das, Abhijit Dipke, Ashutosh Ranka and Ratna Singh. The woman's plea accuses them of morphing and circulating explicit deepfake images of her with the Prime Minister.
The petition states that during recent protests held by the CJP at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi, the leaders and their associates allegedly harvested her personal photograph without authorisation and used artificial intelligence face-swapping tools to place her face on a vulgar image alongside the Prime Minister.
The plea sought the removal of the fabricated and deepfake pictures. Counsel for the woman submitted that an FIR had already been registered in the matter, but contended that no concrete steps had been taken to apprehend those responsible or to secure the immediate takedown or blocking of the viral links.
The court directed the police to provide complete protection to the woman, who submitted that she was receiving threats to her life. The matter has been listed for further hearing on October 14.