The Delhi High Court on Friday agreed to take up an urgent petition filed by a woman seeking the removal and blocking of manipulated, artificial intelligence-generated images depicting her face superimposed alongside Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia permitted the petition to be listed for hearing on Friday after the matter was mentioned for urgent consideration.
Inaction Following Police Complaint
Appearing on behalf of the petitioner, advocate Umesh Sharma informed the bench that a First Information Report had already been registered concerning the incident. Sharma submitted, however, that authorities had taken no concrete measures to arrest the individuals responsible or to restrict and block access to the internet links distributing the altered media.
Allegations of AI Manipulation at Jantar Mantar
According to the petition, leaders of the Cockroach Janta Party, identified as Saurav Das, Abhijit Dipke, Ashutosh Ranka, and Ratna Singh, along with alleged accomplices, unlawfully secured a personal photograph of the complainant during recent party demonstrations at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi.
The plea contends that the respondents subsequently deployed artificial intelligence-based face-swapping tools to alter the complainant’s face onto an objectionable image featuring the Prime Minister and circulated the material online.
The petitioner has approached the high court seeking urgent judicial directives to ensure the swift removal and digital blocking of the fabricated and defamatory content across internet platforms.
