When Reality Becomes Evidence: Deepfakes, Criminal Attribution And Digital Authenticity In India
- IJLLR Journal
- 8 minutes ago
- 2 min read
Angeri Thyagaraju, LL.B., Aurora Higher Education and Research Academy (Deemed-to-be University), Bhongir Campus
ABSTRACT
The rapid development of generative artificial intelligence has fundamentally altered the evidentiary value traditionally attached to photographs, videos and audio recordings. Deepfakes can manufacture apparently authentic representations of persons, events and statements that never occurred. The resulting legal problem extends beyond misinformation or privacy: it challenges the ability of criminal law to establish what actually happened, whether the digital record is authentic, and who should be held criminally responsible for its creation or dissemination. This article argues that India's existing legal framework contains several provisions capable of addressing deepfake-related conduct, but remains fragmented when confronted with the distinctive problems of digital authenticity and criminal attribution. The Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023 recognises electronic and digital records as evidence; the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 addresses false electronic records and forgery; and the Information Technology Act, 2000 provides offences that may apply to identity theft, personation, privacy violations and specified forms of unlawful electronic publication. India's 2026 amendments to the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 further introduce a dedicated due-diligence framework for synthetically generated information. Yet admissibility of an electronic record does not establish the truth of the event represented by that record, nor does it identify the person responsible for its creation. This article proposes a four-layer approach to digital authenticity— file integrity, source authenticity, event authenticity and criminal attribution—as a framework for judicial assessment of deepfake evidence. It contends that India's response should focus not merely on regulating synthetic content, but on developing reliable methods for separating the existence of a digital file from the authenticity of the reality it purports to depict.
Keywords: Deepfakes, Artificial Intelligence, Digital Evidence, Criminal Attribution, Electronic Records, Digital Authenticity, Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
