MUMBAI: The Bombay high court on Monday issued notices to three state governments and a provider of stock photography after it was alleged that the picture of a villager from Telengana was used for commercial exploitation without her permission.
The villager said her privacy was being violated. The notice was issued to US company, Shutterstock.com, that provides stock photographs, the state govts of Telangana, Karnataka and Shivaji Nagar BJP MLA Siddharth Shirole, among others over the “unauthorised use” of the photograph.
“Prima facie, it appears to be a commercial exploitation of the petitioner’s photograph,” said Justices Girish Kulkarni and Adwait Sethn. The HC said the issues raised are quite serious, considering the contemporary times of an electronic era and social media. The HC has sought replies by March 24.
The high court said the case filed by Namrata Kawale, and Ankush Kawale brought to the fore a “serious issue” of unauthorised use of her photographs. The HC order does not mention which schemes.
The woman, through advocates Nitin Kasliwal and Aniket Pawar, contended that one Tukaram Karve, who belongs to her village, clicked her photograph some years ago. Her plea was that “however, without her consent, he uploaded the photograph on the (Shutterstock) website,” and it appeared that political parties as well as the Maharashtra, Telangana, and Karnataka govts, the Congress Party of Telangana, as well as some private agencies have all utilised the photograph without her knowledge, much less any consent” across the country on hoardings and also online. For Karve, Amad Tikak appeared, and for Shirole, Parinam Law on Monday.
Her argument was that “even if she hails from the rural area, this is a case of serious breach of right to privacy as a woman and such rights as guaranteed to her under the Constitution.” The HC said from certain photos it appears the US company made the picture “available freely” to be downloaded by any person to be used.