An Ahmedabad civil court has ordered the Congress and four of its leaders to remove a deep fake video allegedly defaming Gautam Adani within 48 hours. The court said the content is prima facie defamatory and may cause irreversible harm to reputation if allowed to circulate online.
A civil court in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, has directed the Congress party and four of its senior leaders to remove a deep fake video involving Prime Minister Narendra Modi and industrialist Gautam Adani from all social media platforms.
The order was passed by Additional Civil Judge Shrikant Sharma while hearing a civil defamation suit filed by Adani Enterprises Ltd.
The court instructed the Congress party and its leaders Jairam Ramesh, Supriya Shrinate, Pawan Khera and Uday Bhanu Chib to take down the video within 48 hours from the date of the order and to keep it removed until the next hearing scheduled for December 29.
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The controversial video was posted on the Congress party’s official X (formerly Twitter) handle on December 17.
It allegedly showed a fabricated conversation between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Gautam Adani, accompanied by the caption “Modi-Adani Bhai Bhai, Desh Bechkar Khai Malai”.
The court further stated that if the Congress party and its leaders fail to remove the video within the given time, social media platforms X Corp and Google, which have been named as respondents in the case, must remove the video within 72 hours.
The order clearly mentioned,
“In the event of non-compliance by the defendants, liberty is granted to the plaintiff to approach the concerned intermediary in accordance with the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules 2021 for appropriate takedown action,”.
Along with the interim direction, the court also issued urgent show cause notices to the Congress party and the four leaders, asking them to respond by December 29.
In its plea, Adani Enterprises Ltd. alleged that the Congress party and its leaders had uploaded, circulated and broadcast a deep fake video across multiple social media platforms and digital communication channels, which contained defamatory allegations against the Adani Group.
The company told the court that the content
“imputed to the plaintiff allegations of criminal activity, corruption, land grabbing, misuse of political influence, harassment of private citizens, illegal acquisition of agricultural land, manipulation of public authorities, and engagement with criminal elements”.
Adani Enterprises further argued that these claims were
“wholly false, fabricated, baseless and actuated by malice”.
The plea also pointed out that terms such as “white-collar criminal”, “land mafia” and “politically connected offender” were used against the company and its promoter without any factual foundation.
According to the company, these expressions are defamatory by nature and have caused serious damage to its reputation, credibility and public image, which it has built over several decades.
The company also submitted that such content violates its fundamental right to reputation under Article 21 of the Constitution.
After considering the submissions, the court observed that the defendants had circulated content containing “prima facie defamatory statements,” and that such posts on social media have the potential to seriously harm the reputation and standing of the plaintiff in society.
The court took note of the fact that the Adani Group is a diversified business group with 10 publicly listed companies and operations across India. It observed that defamatory content published online against such a large business group can damage goodwill, reduce public trust and negatively affect its image nationwide.
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While granting ad-interim relief, the court stated,
“In considering this application, this court must keep in view that malicious publications intended to damage the plaintiff’s reputation may cause irreversible harm, as reputation, once lost, cannot be restored. The plaintiff woul d suffer greater hardship from continued circulation of such content than the defendants would from delay,”.
The court concluded that given the serious nature of the allegations and the speed at which such content can spread on social media, immediate interim protection was necessary.
Accordingly, it granted an ad-interim injunction directing the removal of the video and restraining further circulation until the next date of hearing.
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