Patna: The Patna High Court on September 17 ordered immediate removal of an AI-generated video shared by Congress party Bihar unit that sparked a major political controversy.
The division bench of acting Chief Justice PB Bajanthari and Justice Alok Kumar Sinha while hearing on a PIL, asked the Congress party to remove the live streaming of the video from all social media platform.
The court also issued notices to Congress leader and LoP Rahul Gandhi, head of Bihar Pradesh Congress Committee, Election Commission of India, Meta, X [Twitter] and Ministry of Information Technology, asking them to filed replies in the matter. The matter will be next heard by the court after two weeks.
The video posted on social media platform X, on September 10, sparked widescale criticism with Bharatiya Janata Party [BJP] leaders, calling it deeply offensive and accusing Congress party for disrespecting PM Modi and his late mother.
BJP on September 13 also filed a complaint in connection with the video in New Delhi. The complaint, registered at North Avenue police station in Delhi, names both the Congress party and its IT Cell as primary accused. The Congress leaders on the other hand have dismissed the allegations, claiming that no disrespect was shown to anyone in the video.
In the AI-generated video a character resembling Prime Minister Narendra Modi was shown having a conversation with a woman resembling PM’s late mother in a dream. The viral clip, marked “AI GENERATED,” carried the caption “Saheb ke sapne mei aayi Ma, dekhiye rochak samvaad” (“Ma appears in Saheb’s dreams, watch the interesting dialogue”).
The recent controversy arose almost a fortnight after alleged abuses hurled at PM Modi and his mother by a man during Voter Adhikar Yatra in Darbhanga. The BJP launched a massive protest against the incident, calling for a five hour shutdown [Bandh] in the poll-bound state.
