MUMBAI: Bombay High Court has ordered Amazon Prime Video to take down a Telugu movie titled V within 24 hours. The film had a scene where actress Sakshi Malik's photograph was allegedly used without prior permission. After finding her picture being illegally used, she filed a petition seeking the removal of her photo. Her advocate called it an invasion of privacy.

Sakshi Malik had filed a petition in Bombay High Court stating that a Mumbai-based photographer had clicked a photo of hers in August 2017. The actor had posted a part of that photo on her Instagram account.

In September 2020, a Telugu film titled V was released directly on Amazon Prime Video. In this film, Malik's photo in a sequence, in which she was allegedly portrayed as a female escort or a commercial sex worker. Malik alleged that the photo has been lifted from her Instagram account.

Advocates Alankar Kirpekar and Saveena T Bedi told the court that this was a 'wholly unauthorised invasion of privacy and unauthorised use of private material.' The court too felt that there is a case of defamation.

The filmmakers told the court that they had contacted a commercial agency to obtain a suitable image for that particular sequence. They were assured that they could legitimately use this image. "This seems to be less than compelling. Surely any right-thinking motion picture producer would have insisted on seeing an approval or consent by the model or person who is featured or to be featured. It would a be standard procedure almost anywhere, and this would be true whether the issue is one of copyright in the photograph or of use with permission of an image of the model in question for a particular sequence," said Justice Gautam Patel about the filmmakers' defence.

Justice Patel agreed with the arguments and said, "It seems to me self-evident that it is not possible to use the image of any person for a commercial purpose without written consent. If images are to be used without consent, they must be covered by some sort of legally enforceable and tenable licensing regime, whether with or without royalty. Simply using another’s image, and most especially a private image, without consent is prima facie impermissible, unlawful and entirely illegal. In a given case, it may also be defamatory, depending on the type of use."

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Justice Patel added, "The question of consent, or, more accurately, the damage done from the failure to obtain the plaintiff's (Malik's) consent and permission to use her photograph and image in any manner at all. The fact that the image has been illicitly used is bad enough. It only makes matters worse when used in a plainly derogatory and demeaning vein."

With this, the court ordered Amazon "to take down the telecast of the film in all versions, irrespective of language and sub-titles, until such time as the 1st and 2nd Defendants (filmmakers) have completely deleted all images of the Plaintiff (Malik) from their work."

It is not acceptable for the film's team to merely pixelate or blur the images. The entire sequence which has the image of Malik will have to be removed immediately.

The court also restrained the filmmakers from releasing their film on any media platform or through any medium or in any version until the deletions that have been indicated are made. The court will further hear the case on March 8.

SOURCE – INDIA TODAY

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