Delhi High Court orders Meta to remove morphed image of woman with PM Modi
The Delhi High Court on Friday directed police to protect a woman who alleged that Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) leaders circulated a morphed image of her alongside Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a protest. The court also ordered Meta to remove the objectionable posts from its platforms immediately.
The woman told the court that she had received rape threats online and that the images and videos remained accessible despite her complaint to police.
Justice Girish Kathpalia directed the investigating officer to obtain her address privately and pass it to the local station house officer, who was told to ensure her protection. The court said her address must not be made public.
The court issued notices to CJP leaders Saurav Das, Abhijit Dipke, Ashutosh Ranka and Ratna Singh, who were named in the woman’s petition. They have been asked to respond within two weeks.
According to the petition, the woman’s photograph was used without her consent to create an obscene image showing her alongside PM Modi. She alleged that the image was displayed on banners at a CJP protest and that videos of it were posted online. She also claimed morphed images were uploaded to pornographic websites.
Delhi Police told the court that an FIR had been registered on Thursday and that it would act as quickly as possible. The court asked police to file a status report within a week detailing the action taken.
The woman was directed to give investigators the images, videos and relevant links. Police were told to keep the material confidential and send the links to Meta through official channels to facilitate removal. The court also directed its Registry to redact the links from the petition and its annexures.
The court said the woman could pursue a separate claim for compensation. It will hear the matter again in two weeks.- Ends
Aneesha Mathur is a Special Correspondent for India Today where she puts her LLB degree to use covering Legal issues and cases in the Supreme Court of India, Delhi High court and other courts/tribunals.
Aneesha joined India Today in October 2018. After graduating from St Stephen's College and Faculty of law,Delhi University, she spent the formative years of her career in print Media.
Her interest in journalism stems from experience while interning with Legal services and Juvenile justice board as a law student, where she learnt the importance of ensuring that accurate information reaches the world, and that stories about individual experiences and statistics that show a "bigger picture" must supplement each other so other people can see what the large impact of a small thing can be. When not working or thinking about the law and it's state, Aneesha hides from reality in fantasy novels, rom-coms and food.
