Shilpa Shetty case: A woman’s identity cannot be reduced to a commodity, says lawyer Sana Raees Khan

On Friday, the Bombay High Court, in an interim order, granted relief to actor Shilpa Shetty in her plea seeking to restrain several known and unknown social media platforms, artificial intelligence linked entities and others, including unidentified persons, from posting manipulated or morphed images and videos of her, alleging a violation of her personality rights.

The single judge bench of Justice Advait Sethna, during the court vacation, directed the various known and unknown platforms to immediately delete and pull down links, posts, URLs and websites carrying such allegedly manipulated content related to Shetty. The judge observed that the material placed on record by Shetty’s lawyer, Sana Raees Khan, was “prima facie extremely disturbing” and that “no personality, much less a person or a woman, can be portrayed in a manner that affects her fundamental right to privacy, and that too, without her knowledge or consent.”


Speaking to us after the interim order, Sana said, “Deepfakes and AI-based morphing reduce a person’s identity into a tool for abuse and profit. In Shilpa Shetty’s case, the alleged cloning and morphing of her face, voice and mannerisms to create and monetise unauthorised content shows how AI can be weaponised to cause instant reputational harm. The Bombay High Court has rightly recognised this as a grave violation of her privacy and dignity. Such judicial intervention is essential to deter the misuse of AI in an age where reputational damage is instantaneous. A woman’s face, body and identity cannot be treated as commodities for digital exploitation.”





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