Karnataka High Court Directs Takedown Of AI-Generated, Morphed Content Maligning Dharmasthala Pontiff Dr. Veerendra Heggade & Family
The Karnataka High Court has on May 14 directed the State government and the Police department to remove deepfake and AI-manipulated content about the Dharmasthala Dharmadhikari Dr. D Veerendra Heggade and his family members from all social media platforms, press and media outlets and URLs.The single judge vacation bench of Justice S.R. Krishna Kumar noted that the concerned authorities failed...
The Karnataka High Court has on May 14 directed the State government and the Police department to remove deepfake and AI-manipulated content about the Dharmasthala Dharmadhikari Dr. D Veerendra Heggade and his family members from all social media platforms, press and media outlets and URLs.
The single judge vacation bench of Justice S.R. Krishna Kumar noted that the concerned authorities failed to take necessary action against such fabricated and morphed content despite a direction to the same effect in an earlier W.P. No. 19382/2023, pursuant to which a representation was made to the police authorities.
"Respondent Nos. 1 and 2 are directed to take necessary/effective/immediate steps to ensure that AI-generated, morphed, manipulated or fabricated images, video content depicting Dr. D. Veerendra Heggade, his family members, etc., to be taken down, removed, erased, effaced, deleted, etc., from all social media, URLs, press/media, social media platforms, etc., and press and other media including respondent Nos. 3 to 7 within a period of one week from the date of receipt of a copy of this order”, the court noted in the order.
Dr D. Veerendra Heggade is the administrator/dharmadhikari of Sri Kshetra Dharmasthala temple in Karnataka. The writ petition was filed by four representatives, including the regional director connected to the Sri Kshetra Dharmasthala Rural Development Project (R), B.C. Trust. The respondents against whom the case was filed included the State of Karnataka, CEN Police Station, Central Division, Bengaluru, the Publishers and Broadcasters Welfare Association of Karnataka, and tech platforms such as Google LLC, Instagram LLC, WhatsApp LLC, and Meta Platforms Inc.
The petitioners sought a writ of mandamus to make the police act on their representation and a consequent direction to restrain the respondent media platforms from allowing the publication and circulation of AI-generated, morphed content involving Heggade and his family. The plea also sought the identification of persons and channels behind the circulation of the allegedly objectionable content and blocking them, along with the immediate removal of offensive content within 24 hours.
The Additional Government Advocate submitted that the state and police would take necessary steps to remove the contentious media from all platforms immediately if a 'reasonable time' is granted.
Accordingly, after directing 'immediate' takedown of objectionable content, the court disposed of the petition.
To recap, the allegedly defamatory content against Heggade and his family arises out of registration of an FIR based on the complaint of a sanitation worker, who claimed that he was instructed to bury the bodies of women and children between 1995 and 2014 in the temple town of Dharmasthala.
SIT had taken over the probe regarding the alleged mass burial sites in July 2025.
In August 2025, a Bengaluru court had issued a fresh gag order restraining the media outlets from publishing any defamatory content against Dharmasthala Dharmadhikari Veerendra Heggade, his family members, institutions run by the family and Sri Manjunathaswamy temple, Dharmasthala.
In April 2026, pertaining to a similar matter, the Karnataka High Court stayed the criminal proceedings initiated against Youtuber Sameer M.D, who runs the Dootha YouTube channel, over a video he made on the Dharamsthala mass burial case.
Case Title: Sri Sheenappa & Ors. vs. State of Karnataka & Ors.
Case No.: Writ Petition No. 13836 of 2026