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Medium News report Investigation Opened

Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh: a young woman reported that an unknown person made AI deepfake images placing her face on another man's photo and sent them to her future in-laws' Instagram accounts to break off her marriage; police registered a case against unknown persons

Dainik Bhaskar reported on 19 September 2026 that a young woman in the Chaubepur police-station area of Varanasi complained that an unknown person, who had been calling her repeatedly from an unknown number, created a fake Instagram profile resembling her name, used an AI tool to place her face on another young man's photograph to produce objectionable images, and sent them to the Instagram accounts of her prospective in-laws and her prospective brother-in-law with the aim of breaking off her prospective marriage. Chaubepur police registered a case against unknown persons on the basis of a public-hearing reference (1621/26); the station in-charge said digital information about the phone number and the fake account was being gathered with cyber experts to identify and locate the accused, and that action would follow once the accused's role was clear. The report is a single local account of the complaint; the dates of the images and the complaint are not stated.

AI System

AI face-swap or image-editing tool (not identified)

Occurred

Event date unknown

Reported

19 September 2026

Event location

India

Platform

other

What the evidence supports

AI involvement: reported. The complainant alleges that the accused used an AI tool to place her face on another man's photograph to create objectionable images (Dainik Bhaskar, reporting her complaint); police have registered a case and are investigating. No police or technical confirmation of the AI element is reported and the tool is unnamed.

AI-to-person relation

  • Depicted or impersonated the person

Core relations are communication, acting on someone’s behalf, and depiction or impersonation. Decision and claim relations are retained as contextual cases.

Someone else’s AI use. Settings: Relationships, Everyday life, Privacy.

Claim status: Reported

The complainant alleges that an unknown person who harassed her with repeated calls created a fake Instagram profile resembling her name, used an AI tool to place her face on another young man's photograph to make objectionable images, and sent them to her prospective in-laws' and prospective brother-in-law's Instagram accounts to break off her marriage.

Causal attribution: Complainant's allegation as reported; under police investigation.

  • News report (supports): 'एक युवती का आरोप है कि अज्ञात व्यक्ति ने एआई की मदद से उसकी आपत्तिजनक डीपफेक तस्वीरें तैयार कीं और उन्हें उसके होने वाले ससुराल वालों के इंस्टाग्राम अकाउंट पर भेज दिया'; 'एक अज्ञात मोबाइल नंबर से उसे लगातार फोन कर परेशान किया जा रहा था'; 'आरोपी ने इंस्टाग्राम पर उसके नाम से मिलता-जुलता एक फर्जी प्रोफाइल बनाया'; 'आरोपी ने एआई टूल की मदद से उसका चेहरा किसी अन्य युवक की तस्वीर पर लगाकर आपत्तिजनक तस्वीरें तैयार कीं'

Claim status: Reported

Chaubepur police registered a case against unknown persons on public-hearing reference 1621/26; the station in-charge said digital details of the number and the fake account were being gathered with cyber experts to identify and locate the accused, with action to follow.

Causal attribution: Police statement as reported.

  • News report (supports): 'चौबेपुर पुलिस ने जनसुनवाई संदर्भ संख्या 1621/26 के आधार पर अज्ञात के खिलाफ मामला दर्ज किया है'; 'साइबर विशेषज्ञों की मदद से आरोपी की पहचान और लोकेशन से संबंधित तकनीकी साक्ष्य जुटाने का प्रयास किया जा रहा है'; 'जांच में आरोपी की भूमिका स्पष्ट होने के बाद नियमानुसार कार्रवाई की जाएगी'

What remains unknown

  • The dates of the calls, the images and the complaint are not stated.
  • The AI tool and the number of images are not stated.
  • No arrest is reported and the accused is unidentified.
  • Whether the marriage arrangement was affected is not reported.
Source reading, translation and location

News report · hi · Source inspected

Read live in Hindi on 2026-09-20 (HTTP 200). Local report of the complaint with the station in-charge quoted; quotations translated by the reviewer.

Event countries: India. Affected-person countries: India. Court countries: Unknown.

Chaubepur police-station area, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh (Dainik Bhaskar). No court proceeding.

Reviewed for publication 2026-09-20: Published under the 2026-09-15 charter as a harmful-artifact case affecting one identified (unnamed) woman, with a registered police case. One Hindi local report read; claims recorded as reported and attributed to the complaint and the station in-charge. No names; no image description beyond 'objectionable'.

What Happened

Complaint (as reported by Dainik Bhaskar). The woman told police that she was being harassed by repeated calls from an unknown mobile number. During this the accused created a fake Instagram profile with a name resembling hers, used an AI tool to put her face on another young man's picture to create objectionable images, and sent the images to the Instagram accounts of her prospective in-laws' family and her prospective brother-in-law; she says the purpose was to break off her marriage.

Police response. Chaubepur police registered a case against unknown persons on the basis of public-hearing reference 1621/26; the station in-charge, who is investigating, said digital details of the calling number and the fake Instagram account were being collected and cyber experts were helping to gather technical evidence on the accused's identity and location; action would follow once the accused's role became clear.

Limits. Single local report of the complainant's allegation; no arrest; no statement from the in-laws; the AI tool and the number of images are not stated.

Reported harm

A woman's face was used in AI-made objectionable images sent to her prospective in-laws with the reported aim of breaking off her prospective marriage, after repeated harassing calls; the harm is attributed by the complainant to an unknown person and is under police investigation.

Exploitation or AbuseReputational HarmPsychological Distress

Outcome

Ongoing

Case registered by Chaubepur police against unknown persons on public-hearing reference number 1621/26; investigation by the station in-charge with cyber experts to identify the accused (Dainik Bhaskar, 19 September 2026).

People described

A young woman (युवती) in the Chaubepur police-station area of Varanasi whose marriage was being arranged (the report refers to her prospective in-laws); unnamed

People reported harmed in this case

1 person

0 AI participants · 1 other person harmed

One complainant whose face was used (Dainik Bhaskar). Exact 1. The in-laws who received the images are recipients, not counted as harmed.

Counted once within this case. The same person may appear in other cases. This count does not establish AI causation.

Tags

#deepfake#non-consensual-imagery#ai-face-swap#instagram#harassment#marriage#varanasi#uttar-pradesh#india

Cite this case

Compiled per our published methodology: verification statuses, sourcing standards, and corrections process.

APA

NOPE. (2026). Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh: a young woman reported that an unknown person made AI deepfake images placing her face on another man's photo and sent them to her future in-laws' Instagram accounts to break off her marriage; police registered a case against unknown persons. NOPE: AI and people. https://nope.net/incidents/2026-varanasi-chaubepur-ai-deepfake-images-wedding-sabotage

BibTeX

@misc{2026_varanasi_chaubepur_ai_deepfake_images_wedding_sabotage,
  title = {Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh: a young woman reported that an unknown person made AI deepfake images placing her face on another man's photo and sent them to her future in-laws' Instagram accounts to break off her marriage; police registered a case against unknown persons},
  author = {NOPE},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {NOPE: AI and people},
  url = {https://nope.net/incidents/2026-varanasi-chaubepur-ai-deepfake-images-wedding-sabotage}
}

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