Guwahati: Delhi Police on Saturday registered an FIR on the basis of a BJP worker’s complaint over an AI-generated “deepfake” video.
The video in question was posted by the Bihar Congress unit on its X handle.
It allegedly played foul with the image of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his late mother Heeraben Modi, as per an official.
The complainant Sanket Gupta, is the convenor of the BJP Delhi Election Cell.
The complaint was lodged at the North Avenue Police Station.
The clip was shared on the official X handle of the Bihar unit of the Congress party on September 10, the complaint alleged.
The FIR has been registered against unnamed persons under sections 336 (Forgery), 340(2) (Forged document or electronic record and using it as genuine), 352 (Intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace), 356(2) (Defamation) and 61(2) (Criminal conspiracy) of the BNS, they added.
The Congress’s video, captioned “Maa appears in sahab’s dreams,” seems to be a continuity of the opposition party’s endeavor to take personal potshots at the Prime Minister and his family.
It also comes at a time when the poll fever in Bihar is at its peak.
The BJP has sought an apology and strict action against the ones behind the video.
BJP MP Radha Mohan Das Agrawal said, “Prime Minister Modi has always kept politics separate from family life. It is painful that the Congress first abused the prime minister’s mother and is now using deepfake technology to mislead the country and insult all mothers.”
Agrawal added he would lodge a complaint with the Election Commission.
BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla attacked the Congress on X, stating the party had “crossed all limits” with the video.
“Far from remorse for abusing PM’s mother, Congress justified and defended the accused with lies. This party has become ‘Gaaliwadi’ instead of Gandhiwadi,” he posted, calling the clip “disgusting” and “shameful.”
The Prime Minister had earlier reacted to the derogatory remarks hurled at his family from Bihar.
“My dead mother abused from RJD-Congress stage, is an insult to nation’s mothers, daughters,” he had said.
And he added, “These abuses are not just an insult to my mother. These are insults to the mothers, sisters and daughters of the country. I know how bad all of you, every mother of Bihar, felt after seeing and hearing this. I know, as much pain as I have in my heart, the people of Bihar are also in the same pain.”