The Delhi High Court on Friday directed Meta Platforms to remove within 24 hours objectionable content featuring a woman's morphed picture alongside Prime Minister Narendra Modi and ordered the Delhi Police to provide her complete protection after she said she was receiving threats to her life.
Justice Girish Kathpalia termed the matter an “extraordinary position”, observing that it concerned not only the woman but also the Prime Minister.
“If the Delhi Police is not sensitive about it, the court will ensure it becomes sensitive,” the judge said, according to PTI.
The court also issued notice to Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) leaders Saurav Das, Abhijit Dipke, Ashutosh Ranka and Ratna Singh on the woman's plea alleging that they circulated her morphed and explicit pictures alongside Modi.
The court listed the matter for further hearing on October 14 and directed the woman to provide her exact address to the investigating officer so that police could provide her complete protection “in all possible and practical manner”.
The woman's plea alleged that the CJP leaders and their accomplices unauthorisedly obtained her personal photograph during a CJP protest at Jantar Mantar and used artificial intelligence (AI) face-swapping tools to morph her face onto a “highly vulgar, compromising image” alongside the Prime Minister, the report added.
The plea alleged that the morphed images were displayed on physical banners during the demonstration along with obscene and derogatory slogans and were subsequently uploaded on Instagram and other social media platforms.
The woman's counsel told the court that an FIR had already been registered but alleged that no concrete steps had been taken to apprehend those responsible or secure the immediate takedown or blocking of the viral deepfake links.
At the outset, Justice Kathpalia observed that the issue concerning takedown of the objectionable content would ordinarily have to go before a civil court. However, considering the sensitivity of the matter, he said the woman should not be made to run from one place to another and that the prayers would be dealt with by the High Court.
“It is not just her face. Of course she is a victim,” the judge said, adding that the other face in the material should also have been blurred.
The court said the matter would ordinarily not have been entertained because alternative remedies were available, but noted that it concerned not only the woman but also the Prime Minister.
The court directed Meta to remove the objectionable content from its social media platforms within 24 hours and issued notice to the company.
On compensation, the court said that, in view of the legal position that a victim can seek compensation from organisers for an illegality committed during a demonstration, the pendency of the petition would not prevent the woman from pursuing any other relief available to her under law.
The Delhi Police was directed to file a status report within a week detailing the action taken in the matter. The court registry was also directed to redact the woman's name and web links from the petition and its annexures.
The petitioner's counsel alleged that the woman's photographs were morphed in a highly obscene and objectionable manner and displayed alongside the Prime Minister during the CJP demonstration at Jantar Mantar.
The woman alleged that the CJP leaders had carried out a coordinated cyber-assault and public character assassination using deepfake technology. The plea further alleged that physical banners carrying the morphed image were paraded before crowds and that videos were uploaded on Instagram and other social media platforms.
(With inputs from PTI)
