Deepfake sexual content has emerged as a serious manifestation of artificial intelligence misuse in the digital era, raising significant concerns regarding criminal liability, constitutional rights, and digital safety in India. These AI-generated synthetic media forms, often created without consent, pose severe threats to an individual’s dignity, privacy, autonomy, and reputation. Although deepfake technology has legitimate applications in entertainment and communication, its misuse for producing non-consensual sexually explicit content has resulted in growing incidents of cyber harassment, gender-based violence, and psychological harm. This study provides a doctrinal and analytical examination of deepfake sexual content in India, focusing on the adequacy of existing legal frameworks such as the Information Technology Act, 2000, the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, and constitutional protections under Article 21 of the Constitution of India. It explores criminal liability for creation, dissemination, and circulation of deepfake pornography, along with intermediary responsibility under Indian cyber law. The research further analyzes landmark judicial decisions on privacy, dignity, and freedom of expression to understand how constitutional jurisprudence addresses emerging digital harms. The study finds that while existing laws offer indirect remedies, they are insufficient to address the unique challenges posed by AI-generated sexual content due to the absence of specific statutory provisions. It highlights enforcement difficulties such as anonymity of offenders, rapid content dissemination, cross-border jurisdiction issues, and lack of forensic capabilities. The paper concludes that India requires dedicated legislation, stronger regulatory mechanisms, improved cyber forensic infrastructure, and enhanced constitutional safeguards to effectively combat deepfake-related sexual exploitation while protecting human dignity and privacy in the digital age.
Aditya et al. (Wed,) studied this question.