Deepfake Photo Case: Delhi High Court has taken a very strict stand in a serious case of misuse of technology and spreading defamation on social media. The court has given strict instructions to immediately provide Delhi Police security to the victim who has alleged that her obscene deepfake picture with the country's Prime Minister Narendra Modi has gone viral.
During the hearing of the case, the court made very strict and important oral remarks and said that this matter is not limited only to the dignity and safety of the victim, but is also directly related to the position and honor of the Prime Minister of the country. Taking serious cognizance of this entire incident, the court has issued notice to the named accused leaders and asked them to file their reply within the stipulated time limit.
Accused accused of character assassination with deepfake technology
According to the petition filed in the court, the victim has alleged that leaders like Saurav Das, Abhijit Dipke, Ashutosh Ranka and Ratna Singh associated with Cockroach Janata Party have hatched this entire conspiracy. The victim says that these people took her personal photographs without her consent or permission. After this, with the help of advanced artificial intelligence tools and deepfake technology, a very dirty, obscene and objectionable picture was created by linking his face with that of the country's Prime Minister.
The victim also made a serious allegation in the petition that the accused not only made this highly objectionable fake material viral on different social media platforms on a large scale, but also crossed the limits and even got huge banners printed with this fake picture. These banners were waved openly amidst the huge crowd and slogans were raised against the victim using very vulgar and derogatory language.
receiving continuous threats
While presenting the victim's side inside the court, her lawyer Umesh Sharma argued that an FIR has already been lodged in the police station regarding this entire matter. Despite this, Delhi Police has not yet taken any concrete action against the accused nor has any major initiative been taken to remove the objectionable material from the Internet. The lawyer told the court that due to the open presence of this disgusting material on the internet, the life of the victim has become difficult.
The victim is continuously receiving dreadful threats of death and rape from unknown people. Due to this environment of heavy defamation and insecurity, the woman is going through deep mental shock. Pointing fingers at the functioning of the police, the lawyer said that in such a sensitive and high profile case, the Quick Reaction Team of Delhi Police itself should have come forward and taken strict cognizance immediately, but gross negligence has been seen in the case.
Police instructed to be sensitive
While hearing the case, the High Court clarified that the technical matter of removing and blocking objectionable content from social media or internet falls within the scope of the bench related to civil jurisdiction. However, in view of the serious threat posed to the life and safety of the victim, the court is issuing strict instructions for now to provide her with strong police security.
The court verbally made very sharp remarks on the laxity and lax attitude of Delhi Police. The court said in a very harsh tone that if the police itself does not know how to be sensitive, then the court will ensure that the police becomes completely sensitive in such extremely sensitive cases. This strict stance of the court clearly indicates that the law will now act strictly against those who play with the digital honor of women and commit character assassination through deepfake technology.
Also read: 32 year old famous actress upset after deepfake video went viral, made this special appeal to people on social media