Deepfakes And Identity Appropriation: Re- Examining The Limits Of Indian Criminal Law In The Age Of Generative AI
- IJLLR Journal
- Jul 6
- 2 min read
Kunduru Venkata Nandini, School of Law, Woxsen University
ABSTRACT
Rapid advances in generative artificial intelligence have enabled the creation of highly realistic synthetic videos, audio, and images capable of imitating a person’s face, voice, and likeness without consent. Public discussions on deepfakes are usually about misinformation, but this paper argues the fundamental legal problem lies elsewhere: Indian criminal law which treats deepfakes as wrongful only when they produce a separate recognisable harm such as fraud, defamation, or fabricated evidence rather than recognising it as the theft of identity of an individual as an independently wrongful act. Drawing on recent Indian incidents which include Rashmika Mandanna deepfake controversy, deepfake-enabled investment scams impersonating executives associated with Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), and AI- generated political content circulated during the Tamil Nadu Assembly Election 2026, this paper examines the Information Technology Act, 2000, Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, and Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, and finds that each statute applies only after a downstream consequence occurs. The paper then discusses Indian personality rights law, which recognises that using someone’s identity without consent is independently illegal and can be enforced through civil courts. It argues that this principle should also be applied in criminal law, not just civil law. The paper further recommends creating a new law that specifically criminalises the non-consensual use of digitally created or synthetic versions of a person’s identity such as deepfakes. Overall, the paper suggests that Indian law should shift from a reactive approach in which action is taken only after harm occurs to a preventive approach where unauthorized use of identity itself is treated as an offence. This paper’s novel contribution lies in reframing deepfake regulation in India from a consequence-based harm model to an identity- based appropriation model, arguing that unauthorised digital replication itself should be treated as the primary criminal wrong.
Keywords: Deepfakes, Artificial Intelligence, Identity Appropriation, Criminal Liability, Personality Rights, Data Protection Law, Digital Privacy
