Delhi HC orders Meta to remove morphed photo of woman with PM Modi

The Delhi High Court on Friday ordered Meta Platforms to immediately remove a morphed photo of a woman posted on social media, showing her with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The objectionable content had been posted on social media.

Justice Girish Kathpalia said this was an extraordinary situation, as the case concerned not just a woman but also the country's Prime Minister. He further said that if the Delhi Police was not sensitive to the matter, the court would ensure that the police became sensitive.

The High Court also issued notice to Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) leaders Saurav Das, Abhijeet Dipke, Ashutosh Ranka and Ratna Singh. The notice was issued on the woman's petition, in which she alleged that these leaders circulated her morphed and obscene photo with Prime Minister Modi.

The court has fixed the next hearing in the matter for October 14. It also directed the police to provide full security to the woman, as she told the court that she was receiving death threats.

The woman's petition alleges that the CJP leaders morphed and circulated deepfake obscene photos of her with Prime Minister Modi. The petition seeks removal of certain fake and deepfake photos, in which the woman's morphed face is allegedly shown in obscene photos with the Prime Minister.

The woman's lawyer told the court that an FIR had already been registered in the matter. However, he said no concrete steps had been taken to apprehend the accused or to get the viral deepfake links removed or blocked immediately.

The petition states that during a recent protest by the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi, respondents number 2 to 5, that is these CJP leaders, along with their associates, obtained the petitioner's private photo without permission and used artificial intelligence (AI) face-swap tools to morph her face onto an extremely obscene and objectionable photo showing her with the Prime Minister.