The Bombay High Court has deprecated the "commercial exploitation" and illegal use of a woman's photograph without her consent in government advertisements and issued notices to the Centre and four state governments. The woman, Namrata Ankush Kawale, in her plea said her picture taken by a photographer, an acquaintance, was uploaded on the website 'Shutterstock.com' without her consent and knowledge. The photo has since then been used unauthorisedly by the state governments of Maharashtra, Telangana, Karnataka and Odisha and the Union Ministry of Rural Development and some private entities on their websites, hoardings and other advertisements, she alleged. A division bench of Justices G S Kulkarni and Advait Sethna, in its order on March 10, said the issues raised in the plea were "quite serious, considering the contemporary times of an electronic era and social media". "Prima facie, it appears to be a commercial exploitation of the petitioner's photograph," the HC said. The bench