In a message to the Lok Sabha (Lower House) of Parliament, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology reported that, to ensure an open, safe, trusted, and accountable cyberspace for users, the country has a legal structure addressing various aspects of the challenges posed by such alterations when used in the commission of crimes.

The Ministry cited the Information Technology Act, which defines offenses such as identity theft, impersonation, and privacy violations; the Act also empowers authorities to issue blocking orders to intermediaries and notices for the removal of information used to commit illicit acts, the source noted.

Meanwhile, India’s new penal code—which penalizes the dissemination of false or misleading statements capable of causing public alarm and allows for the prosecution of organized cybercrimes involving deepfake content—is paving the way to tackle this phenomenon.

It also establishes obligations for platforms to inform users about the prohibition of hosting, displaying, or sharing information that is obscene, pornographic, or invasive of privacy; promotes hate or violence; harms minors; misleads via deepfakes; impersonates identities using AI; or threatens national security.

Furthermore, law enforcement agencies investigating cybercrimes, along with state and territorial authorities, bear primary responsibility for the prevention, detection, investigation, and prosecution of these offenses.

Similarly, 13 projects have been approved for educational institutions across the country, such as the “Saakshya” initiative (a multi-agent framework for detecting deepfakes), “AI Vishleshak” (to improve the detection of audiovisual forgeries), and the Kharagpur project (focusing on a system for real-time voice content).

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