Constitutional Protection Against Deepfake Sexual Content In India: Analysing Privacy, Dignity And Criminal Liability
- IJLLR Journal
- 1 hour ago
- 1 min read
P. River, BA LLB (H), Amity University, Madhya Pradesh
ABSTRACT
The proliferation of deepfake technology - the use of artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms to create hyper-realistic but entirely fabricated digital content - has given rise to one of the most alarming and most rapidly growing categories of digital sexual violence in contemporary society. The non-consensual creation, publication, and dissemination of deepfake sexual content causes devastating psychological, reputational, and social harm to its victims, who are disproportionately women and marginalised persons, and raises profound questions of criminal liability, constitutional protection, and regulatory adequacy that existing Indian legal frameworks are ill-equipped to address. This paper undertakes a comprehensive doctrinal and analytical examination of the criminal liability and constitutional dimensions of deepfake sexual content in India, assessing the adequacy of the existing legal framework - including the Information Technology Act, 2000, the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, and the constitutional protections of Articles 19 and 21 of the Constitution of India - and identifying the specific legislative, institutional, and constitutional reforms needed to provide effective protection against AI-generated sexual exploitation. The paper advances the central argument that the absence of specific legislation governing deepfake sexual content in India constitutes a serious and urgent constitutional deficit that leaves victims without adequate legal remedies and perpetrators without appropriate criminal accountability, and proposes a comprehensive framework of legislative, institutional, and judicial reforms to address this deficit.
Keywords: Deepfakes, Artificial Intelligence, Digital Sexual Violence, Criminal Liability, Right to Privacy, Article 21, Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita 2023, Information Technology Act, Intermediary Liability, Constitutional Protection, Digital Dignity.
