Court orders Cong, leaders to take down ‘deepfake’ Modi-Adani video

Ahmedabad: In response to a defamation suit filed by Adani Enterprises Ltd (AEL), a civil court in Ahmedabad has ordered the Indian National Congress (INC) and its four leaders — Jairam Ramesh, Supriya Shrinate, Pawan Khera and Uday Bhanu Chib — to remove a deepfake video of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and industrialist Gautam Adani from social media platforms within 48 hours.The court also directed social media platform owners X Corp and Google LLP to take down the video within 72 hours. Additional civil judge Shrikant Sharma of the Ahmedabad district court passed the ex parte order on the company's suit, taking exception to the video posted on the INC's X handle on Dec 17.
After hearing the plea for interim relief, the court ordered, "These materials prima facie demonstrate that the defendants' actions on social media are likely to harm the plaintiff's reputation and adversely affect his standing in society." The court issued a show cause notice to the INC and the leaders, seeking their replies by Dec 29.The video purportedly showed a conversation between Modi and Adani and carried the caption, "Modi-Adani Bhai Bhai, Desh Bechkar Khai Malai" (Modi and Adani are like brothers, selling off the country and enjoying the spoils).The company, as an interim relief, requested direction to seven respondents, including the political party, its leaders, and the social media company, to immediately take down the deep fake video, claiming that it is damaging and defamatory.The court also ordered, "In the event of non-compliance by the defendants, liberty is granted to the plaintiff to approach the concerned intermediary in accordance with the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules 2021 for appropriate takedown action."The plea said that through the video and post, the defendants "imputed to the plaintiff allegations of criminal activity, corruption, land grabbing, misuse of political influence, harassment of private citizens, illegal acquisition of agricultural land, manipulation of public authorities, and engagement with criminal elements". It asserted that the imputations are "wholly false, fabricated, baseless and actuated by malice".Expressions of "white-collar criminal", "land mafia" and "politically connected offender" used against the plaintiff are per se defamatory and have been circulated to the general public without any factual basis, causing substantial injury to its reputation, credibility, and public image painstakingly built over decades, the AEL plea stated. Furthermore, the content is not only defamatory but also violates the fundamental right to reputation under Article 21 of the Constitution, it said.