New Delhi: A petition has been moved before the National Commission for Women (NCW) seeking suo motu cognizance of the systematic misuse of artificial intelligence technology to create and disseminate non-consensual obscene imagery of women on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter).
Advocate Saket Sourav has drawn the Commission’s attention to the weaponisation of X’s AI feature, “Grok,” to perpetrate what he terms “digital violence against women.” The petition describes how miscreants operating through fake and anonymous accounts exploit the AI tool by sourcing photographs of women from social media profiles, inputting prompts to digitally remove or minimise clothing to create sexualised imagery, and publicly disseminating such non-consensually created obscene content.
The petition characterises this phenomenon as “a new and dangerous dimension of technology-enabled gender-based violence,” causing irreparable harm to victims’ reputation, dignity, and mental well-being.
Invoking the NCW’s statutory mandate under Section 10(1) of the National Commission for Women Act, 1990, the petition emphasises the Commission’s power to take suo motu notice of matters relating to the deprivation of women’s rights. The advocate argues that this power assumes the nature of a “constitutional duty” when the fundamental rights of women are systematically violated.
The petition grounds its constitutional challenge in multiple violations of fundamental rights. Citing the Supreme Court’s landmark privacy judgment in Justice K.S. Puttaswamy v. Union of India, it argues that the non-consensual creation and dissemination of sexualised imagery violates the right to privacy under Article 21, including informational privacy, control over personal information, bodily integrity, personal autonomy, and dignity.
The petition further contends that the systematic targeting of women through AI-enabled sexual violence perpetuates gender-based discrimination and creates a hostile digital environment disproportionately affecting women’s equal participation in the digital public sphere, thereby violating Article 14’s guarantee of equality. It also argues that such a hostile environment has a severe chilling effect on women’s freedom of expression and participation on social media, in violation of Article 19(1)(a).
Additionally, the petition invokes Article 51A(e), which mandates the fundamental duty to renounce practices derogatory to the dignity of women, arguing that the impugned conduct directly violates this constitutional obligation.
The petition emphasises that the NCW has consistently exercised its suo motu powers in matters of public importance affecting women’s rights, having previously intervened in cases involving morphed photographs, non-consensual sharing of intimate images, online harassment and abuse of women, and emerging forms of gender-based violence. The Commission’s proactive approach, it notes, has been instrumental in ensuring platform accountability, recommending legislative reforms, providing victim relief, and creating deterrence.
The petition stresses the urgency of the matter on multiple grounds. It involves not isolated incidents but systematic exploitation affecting potentially thousands of women nationwide. The viral and permanent nature of digital content amplifies harm exponentially, causing irreversible damage to victims’ reputation, mental health, and social standing. The technological sophistication and ease of misuse pose unprecedented threats, requiring immediate intervention before the problem becomes unmanageable.
Warning of cascading consequences arising from delayed intervention, the petition argues that inaction would embolden perpetrators, normalise such conduct, cause continuing irreparable harm to victims, undermine women’s confidence in digital spaces and their constitutional rights, and create a dangerous precedent for the misuse of emerging AI technologies.
Accordingly, the petition seeks the Commission’s immediate suo motu cognizance under Section 10(1) of the National Commission for Women Act, 1990, to address what it characterises as grave and systematic violations of the constitutional rights, dignity, and safety of women arising from the misuse of artificial intelligence technology.
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