Woman Moves Bombay High Court Against Unauthorised Use of Her Photo in State Ads, Political Campaigns

Sahyaja MS (Bar and Bench 13 March 2025

Public Interest

A woman has approached the Bombay High Court seeking action against unauthorised use of her photograph by political parties and various States in advertising their schemes (Namrata Ankush Kawale and anr v Tukaram Nivrutti Karve).

As per her plea, both private and government entities have exploited her image without her consent, violating her fundamental privacy rights.

A Bench of Justice GS Kulkarni and Advait M Sethna heard the plea on March 10 and sought the responses of the photographer who allegedly took her picture, Shutterstock (a US company that hosts a website with royalty-free stock photos), and various States, including Maharashtra, Karnataka, Telangana and Odisha.

"The issues are quite serious, considering the contemporary times of an electronic era and social media. The respondents need to answer the writ petition," the Court said in its order.

The petition was filed by Namrata Ankush Kawale who told the Court that her photograph was taken by a photographer named Tukaram Nivrutti Karve, who belongs to her village, during one of his visits to the village.

Karve later uploaded the image to Shutterstock, a US-based company that provides royalty free stock photographs to those in need.

This allowed various political parties and State governments to use the image without her consent. The photograph was subsequently used in advertisements and campaigns by several entities, including the State governments of Maharashtra, Karnataka, Odisha and Telangana, the Congress Party of Telangana, the Union Ministry of Rural Development and private entities like Total Dental Care Pvt Ltd (respondents).

Kawale has now sought a permanent injunction to prevent such entities from displaying, distributing, sharing, diverting, selling or using her photograph on their website boards, social media platforms, advertisements, promotions, sub-promotions or in any other manner.

She has also sought appropriate action against the respondents for the illegal use of her image and the violation of her privacy rights.

As per her plea, the breach of her privacy is extremely alarming and such illegality could not have taken place by the actions of responsible bodies like the respondents, who are supposed to adhere to law.

The Court on Monday found some merit to the concerns expressed by her.

"Prima facie, it appears to be a commercial exploitation of the petitioner’s photograph. This is alleged to have happened completely without the petitioner even being informed about the same," the Court said.

The Court also raised concerns regarding the unauthorised exploitation of personal images by both State and private entities, especially in the age of social media.

It will hear the matter next on March 24.

Courtesy: Bar & Bench

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