'Commercial exploitation': Bombay High Court notices to Centre, 4 states for 'illegal' use of woman's photo for ads

The petitioner alleged that her image was clicked by a local photographer, Tukaram Karve, an acquaintance, and illegally uploaded to the website Shutterstock.

Mumbai: The Bombay High Court has termed the use of a woman's image without her consent in government advertisements as "commercial exploitation" and "quite serious" considering the contemporary electronic era and social media.

Taking note of a petition filed by Namrata Ankush Kawale, a division bench of Justices G S Kulkarni and Advait Sethna issued notices to the Central government, four state governments, Congress Party and a US-based company and posted the matter on March 24.

In her petition, Kawale alleged that her image was clicked by a local photographer, Tukaram Karve, an acquaintance, and illegally uploaded to the website Shutterstock.

Subsequently, the photo was used unlawfully by four state governments and the Union Ministry of Rural Development, as well as some private companies, in advertisements and public displays.

The High Court addressed the seriousness of the matter in its order on March 10, saying that the issues raised in Kawale's plea were pertinent to the current electronic and social media landscape.

"The issues raised in the plea were quite serious, considering the contemporary times of an electronic era and social media. Prima facie, it appears to be a commercial exploitation of the petitioner's photograph," the HC said.

This is alleged to have happened completely without the woman even being informed about the same, it added.

The bench issued a notice to Shutterstock, a US-based company that hosts a website with royalty-free stock photographs, and various state governments, including Maharashtra, Karnataka, Telangana and Odisha.

The notice was also issued to the Telangana Congress, the Union Ministry of Rural Development, and a private entity, Total Dental Care Pvt Ltd, which had used the petitioner's photograph.

It sought affidavits from all the respondents.

The high court said the present case brings to the fore a serious issue about the unauthorised use of woman's photograph by various political parties and state governments in advertising their schemes.

The woman in her plea termed as extremely alarming such a breach of her privacy and illegality which ought not to have taken place from responsible governments who are supposed to adhere to the law.

As per the woman, one Tukaram Karve, a photographer from her village, had taken her picture and uploaded it without her consent on the Shutterstock website.

The governments of Maharashtra, Telangana, Odisha and Karnataka, the Union Ministry of Rural Development and some private entities have used her photograph from the website without her consent for their advertisements and hoardings, she claimed.

The woman further said that the government's illegal use of her photograph was a breach of her fundamental rights.

She sought a direction to the respondents to be permanently restrained from using her photograph on their websites, social media platforms, advertisements and promotions.