The Delhi High Court on Friday agreed to hear urgently a woman's plea alleging that leaders of the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), Saurav Das, Abhijit Dipke, Ashutosh Ranka and Ratna Singh, morphed and circulated vulgar deepfake images of her alongside Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The plea seeks the removal of fabricated and AI-generated images purportedly depicting the woman's morphed face in vulgar photographs with the Prime Minister.
The matter was mentioned for urgent listing before a bench comprising Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia, which allowed the plea to be listed for hearing on Friday.
Advocate Umesh Sharma, appearing for the petitioner, told the court that an FIR had already been registered in connection with the alleged incident. However, he submitted that no concrete steps had been taken to apprehend those responsible or to secure the immediate removal or blocking of the links through which the alleged deepfake images were being circulated.
According to the plea, during recent protests organised by the CJP at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi, the respondents, along with their alleged accomplices, unlawfully obtained the petitioner's personal photograph and used AI-based face-swapping tools to superimpose her face on a vulgar image featuring the Prime Minister.
The petitioner has sought urgent directions for the removal and blocking of the allegedly fabricated and defamatory content from online platforms.
(With inputs from PTI)