A case has been registered against the Maharashtra Youth Congress’ social media handle and 16 others by the Mumbai police for allegedly sharing a deepfake video of Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
In the fake video, BJP leader Amit Shah was seen announcing the curtailment of reservation rights of the SCs, STs and OBCs. A complaint was filed by Mumbai BJP functionary Pratik Karpe at the Bandra Kurla Complex cyber police station on Monday, said an official.
‘The deepfake video of Shah was created, published and widely propagated on the internet, and shared by the accused with a malafide intent to defame the Union minister’, according to the complainant.
As per the complaint, the video deceitfully portrays Shah announcing the curtailment of the reservation rights granted to the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and the Other Backward Classes.
The complainant said the original video, from where the deepfake video has been created, has completely different wordings and connotations.
In his original speech, Shah said that if the BJP comes to power, they will finish the unconstitutional Muslim reservation and this right will be given to the SCs, STs and OBCs of Telangana, as per the complainant.
The accused persons made a deepfake video of the speech and circulated it widely on many social media platforms, Karpe claimed. The complainant also requested the police to take down the deepfake video and register a case against the accused persons, who shared it for allegedly causing disruption and hate in different castes.
Based on the complaint, the case has been registered under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Information Technology Act at the BKC cyber police station against the social media handle of Maharashtra Youth Congress and 16 others, who had allegedly shared the deepfake video on various social media platforms, the official said.
He said a probe is underway into the case.
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