Patna: The Patna High Court has directed the removal of an AI-generated video shared by the Bihar Congress that depicted Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s late mother, Hiraben. The court also issued notices to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, the Election Commission of India, Meta, Google, X (formerly Twitter), and the Ministry of Information Technology.
The 36-second video, posted on the Bihar Congress X handle on September 11, showed a man resembling the Prime Minister in conversation with a woman resembling his mother. The caption read, “Mother appeared in Sir’s dreams. Watch the interesting conversation.”
In the clip, the woman rebukes the Prime Minister, saying: “Son, first you made me stand in lines during demonetisation, then filmed reels of me washing your feet, and now you are playing politics in my name in Bihar. How low will you stoop in the name of politics?”
The video sparked a fierce backlash, with the BJP calling it deeply offensive and alleging the Congress had “crossed all limits” in lowering political discourse. On September 14, the BJP filed an FIR in Delhi against the Congress over the matter.
During Wednesday’s hearing, petitioner’s counsel Santosh Kumar argued that “fake and derogatory content targeting the Prime Minister and his mother is being systematically spread online.” Senior advocates Sanjay Agarwal and Praveen Kumar also appeared for the petitioner, urging immediate action to stop the circulation of such material.
Taking serious note of the matter, the bench ordered the immediate removal of the video and sought responses from the central and state governments. Following the court’s order, the Bihar Congress deleted the video from its X account.
