Karnataka HC Orders State to Remove AI-Generated and Morphed Content Targeting Veerendra Heggade Within One Week
The Karnataka High Court directed the State and Bengaluru police to take down defamatory AI-generated, morphed, and fabricated content depicting Dr. D. Veerendra Heggade and his family from all social media platforms within seven days.
Justice S.R. Krishna Kumar, sitting singly at the High Court of Karnataka at Bengaluru, disposed of a writ petition on 14 May 2026 by directing the State of Karnataka and the CEN Police Station, Central Division, Bengaluru, to take immediate and effective steps to remove AI-generated, morphed, manipulated, and fabricated images and videos depicting Dr. D. Veerendra Heggade and his family members from all social media platforms, URLs, press, and other media. The direction carries a deadline of one week from the date of receipt of a copy of the order. The petition was filed by four individuals associated with Sri Kshetra Dharmasthala Rural Development Project and related trusts, who complained that despite an earlier representation to the police, no action had been taken to pull down the offending content.
The Dispute Before the Court
The four petitioners, Sri Sheenappa, Sri Nandeesh Kumar Jain, Sri Nischal D., and Sri Sunil P., approached the court under Articles 226 and 227 of the Constitution of India. Their core grievance was that defamatory, illegal AI-generated, morphed, manipulated, and fabricated images, videos, and content depicting Dr. D. Veerendra Heggade and his family members continued to circulate across social media platforms, URLs, and press and media outlets.
The petitioners pointed to a representation dated 24 March 2025 submitted by the fourth petitioner to the CEN Police Station, Central Division, Bengaluru. That representation, they said, was filed pursuant to directions issued by the same court in an earlier writ petition, W.P. No. 19382 of 2023. Despite that earlier judicial nudge and the subsequent representation, the State and the police had not acted to take down or remove the content.
Respondents in the petition included the State of Karnataka, the CEN Police Station, the Publishers and Broadcasters Welfare Association of Karnataka, Google LLC, Instagram LLC, WhatsApp LLC, and Meta Platforms Inc./Facebook India.
What the Petitioners Sought
The reliefs sought were wide-ranging. The petitioners asked the court to direct the police to act on the March 2025 representation. They also sought directions against the social media platforms, Google, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Meta, prohibiting them from permitting the creation, generation, publication, upload, transmission, hosting, or circulation of any AI-generated, morphed, manipulated, or fabricated content depicting Dr. Veerendra Heggade and his family.
Beyond a general prohibition, the petitioners sought a specific operational direction: that upon being notified of any such content, the platforms must acknowledge the notice immediately and remove, take down, and permanently delete the content within 24 hours, without requiring repeated complaints. They further sought directions to block, suspend, or permanently remove the accounts, channels, pages, profiles, and URLs involved in creating or spreading such content, and to identify the individuals responsible.
State's Concession and the Court's Reasoning
The learned Additional Government Advocate appearing for respondents 1 and 2 did not contest the petitioners' account. The AGA submitted that if reasonable time were granted, the State and the police would take the necessary steps to remove the defamatory, illegal AI-generated, morphed, manipulated, and fabricated content from all social media, URLs, press, and media platforms as expeditiously as possible.
The court accepted this position. Justice Krishna Kumar found it just and appropriate, in view of the facts and the submissions from both sides, to dispose of the petition with a concrete direction rather than keep it pending. The order does not engage with the broader reliefs sought against the social media platforms individually, nor does it issue the 24-hour takedown or account-blocking directions that the petitioners had prayed for. The operative direction is confined to respondents 1 and 2, the State and the police, and extends to content hosted across respondents 3 to 7 as well.
The court's direction covers AI-generated content, morphed images, manipulated material, and fabricated videos. The platforms named in the direction include all social media, URLs, press, and other media, encompassing respondents 3 to 7. The one-week timeline runs from the date of receipt of a copy of the order.
Outcome
The writ petition was disposed of. The State of Karnataka and the CEN Police Station, Central Division, Bengaluru, are directed to take necessary, effective, and immediate steps to ensure that AI-generated, morphed, manipulated, or fabricated images and video content depicting Dr. D. Veerendra Heggade and his family members are taken down, removed, erased, effaced, and deleted from all social media, URLs, press, media, and other platforms, including respondents 3 to 7, within one week from the date of receipt of a copy of the order.