Deepfakes And Cybercrime In India: Reassessing Intermediary Liability, Digital Evidence And Victim Protection In The Emerging Synthetic Media Regime
Srushti Choche, D.E.S. Shri Navalmal Firodiya Law College, Pune
ABSTRACT
Deepfake technology has altered the relationship between artificial intelligence, identity and digital communication. Unlike ordinary manipulated media, sophisticated synthetic audiovisual material can reproduce a person’s face, voice, mannerisms or apparent statements with a degree of realism capable of producing fraud, reputational injury, non- consensual sexual imagery, impersonation and political misinformation. Indian law has historically addressed these harms through provisions directed at the underlying conduct rather than through a dedicated deepfake offence. The regulatory position has, however, begun to change. The 2026 amendments to the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 introduced specific due-diligence requirements concerning synthetically generated information (“SGI”), including identification, labelling and technical verification obligations for significant social media intermediaries. This paper argues that the principal contemporary question is therefore not simply whether India needs a separate deepfake statute, but whether the emerging regulatory architecture allocates responsibility effectively across creators, AI-service providers, intermediaries and the State. The study adopts a doctrinal, analytical and comparative methodology and develops a “deepfake accountability chain” comprising creation, dissemination, detection, attribution, evidentiary verification and remedy. It further examines the impact of synthetic media on electronic evidence under the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023, and the growing judicial use of personality-rights and injunctionbased remedies. The paper concludes that labelling and intermediary regulation are useful but cannot independently solve attribution, authenticity or victim-remedy problems. India requires a coordinated, rights-based model combining provenance mechanisms, clear responsibility, specialised forensic procedures, rapid victim remedies and safeguards for legitimate expression.
Keywords: Artificial Intelligence; Cybercrime; Deepfakes; Digital Evidence; Intermediary Liability; Privacy; Synthetic Media; Victim Protection.
