New Delhi, Aug 4 — Former Union Minister and five-time Lok Sabha MP Saleem Iqbal Shervani has approached the Delhi High Court seeking the removal of two allegedly AI-generated videos circulating on Facebook and Instagram, claiming that the fabricated content falsely links him to deceased gangster Atiq Ahmed and has caused serious harm to his reputation.
Passing an interim order on Tuesday, a single-judge Bench of Justice Tushar Rao Gedela directed Meta to remove the impugned videos from its Facebook and Instagram platforms within 36 hours and restrained the creators and republishers of the content from publishing or republishing the videos until further orders.
"It appears appropriate to direct Defendant No.1 to take down the following URLs… in 36 hours. Defendants 2 and 3 are restrained from republishing or publishing the videos until further orders," the Delhi High Court ordered.
The Justice Gedela-led Bench also permitted Shervani to approach Meta if the impugned videos are uploaded or circulated again by any other person or entity.
According to the suit, Shervani, 73, alleged that the two videos, published on July 13 by a self-described journalist operating the "Jan Chaupal Post" social media accounts, were entirely generated using artificial intelligence and falsely portrayed him as having close ties with gangster Atiq Ahmed.
The plaint said the videos artificially generated Shervani's face, voice, dialogues and scenes, depicting him as a factory owner who allegedly sought Atiq Ahmed's help to violently suppress a workers' strike and later helped the gangster consolidate his criminal influence in Allahabad (now Prayagraj).
Describing the content as completely fabricated, the suit said that "not one of the events shown in the impugned videos ever took place" and asserted that throughout his public life spanning more than four decades, Shervani "never had any association whatsoever with Atiq Ahmed or with any criminal".
The former Union Minister also alleged that the videos deliberately sought to inflame communal sentiments by introducing fictional characters identified with different religious communities and portraying violence between them for sensationalism and online engagement.
The plea also alleged that despite issuance of legal notices, the videos continued to remain accessible on Meta's platforms and that the platform had failed to remove them despite being notified.
It also sought directions for disclosure of the Basic Subscriber Information of the accounts responsible for publishing and republishing the content, an unconditional public apology and damages of Rs 2.01 crore against the alleged creators and republishers.
The suit named Meta Platforms Inc. as Defendant No.1; Rahul Mishra, who allegedly operates the "Jan Chaupal Post" Facebook and Instagram accounts, as Defendant No.2; Ranjeet Singh, who allegedly republished the videos, as Defendant No.3; and unknown entities as John Doe defendants.
Advocates J Amal Anand, Abhishek Singh and KV Vibu Prasad, Elvin Joshy , Shivani Kalra, Akshat Mishra appeared for Saleem Iqbal Shervani.