Karnataka High Court rules public social media photos do not waive privacy rights

The Karnataka High Court has ruled that a photograph posted on social media for personal use does not grant third parties the right to use that image in obscene material. Justice Suraj Govindaj dismissed a petition to quash criminal proceedings against five men alleged to have circulated a woman’s Instagram photo alongside her contact details and an obscene video in various WhatsApp groups.

The court clarified that the public availability of an image does not authorize identity theft or the intentional association of a person's likeness with indecent content. According to the ruling, the act of misusing a photograph to target an individual’s dignity remains a matter for criminal law, regardless of the platform where the original image was sourced.

Legal experts note that this decision highlights a complex interaction between existing criminal codes and the upcoming Digital Personal Data Protection Act. While the DPDP Act excludes certain publicly available data from its scope, the court's stance underscores that privacy protections regarding identity and harassment remain legally enforceable through other statutes. The case has been remanded to a magistrate’s court for trial.