A local court has rejected the anticipatory bail plea of a Uttarakhand-based man accused of circulating on social media deepfake obscene videos of Amitabh Bachchan.
Abhijit Patil, a businessman dealing with Ayurvedic medicines at Rishikesh, had his pre-arrest bail quashed by the sessions judge V M Pathade. The detailed order is pending.
It is alleged that he created deepfake videos, circulated it on social media, and used those for promotion of sexual health-related products.
He had then filed for anticipatory bail on the ground that the case registered against him was without any substance and he had not committed any offence.
However, the police opposed his bail plea contending that cyber criminals firmly believe that bail is easily available to them even after they impersonate celebrities and morph explicit content, and that encourages such activities.
Special public prosecutor Iqbal Solkar contended that bail would hamper the ongoing investigation, while the prosecution argued that these obscene videos had sullied the reputation of Bachchan internationally.
The judge therefore scrapped Patil's petition. On May 4, Bachchan's lawyers had filed a complaint with the Mumbai cyber police following the emergence of several deepfake videos showing him using abusive language while promoting products of Patil's company.
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