Woman Sues Former Classmate for the Creation and Distribution of Synthetically Altered Nude Image Using a Photo of Her as a Minor

KJIPUKTUK, NOVA SCOTIA (June 29, 2026)

BLE, a 25-year-old woman whose identity is protected by a publication ban, has filed a lawsuit against Mohak Sentil Kumar over the alleged creation and distribution of a synthetic intimate image of her.

Kumar and BLE attended high school together in the Halifax Regional Municipality from 2015 to 2018 as no more than acquaintances. In February of 2024, BLE discovered that Kumar had accessed a 2018 photo of her, taken when she was a minor, from someone else’s social media account and altered it to depict her nude. The lawsuit alleges that Kumar distributed the image and falsely claimed that BLE had sent it to him.

Kumar was criminally charged with criminal harassment, sending an obscene picture, and distribution of intimate images without consent. He was not convicted of the third charge after the Court concluded that the altered image did not meet the definition of “intimate image” under the relevant provision of the Criminal Code at the time.

This outcome highlights how outdated language in criminal legislation in Canada may fail to address pressing and critical harms in an evolving technological landscape. These gaps are particularly concerning in cases of image-based sexual abuse, a form of technology-facilitated gender-based violence that disproportionately affects women and gender-diverse individuals.

Although synthetically creating or altering intimate images of minors is criminalized under section 163.1 of the Criminal Code, Kumar was not charged under this provision. Police determined that “the [synthetic nude] bodies… have adult female anatomy, regardless of [BLE] being 17 at the time of the photos being taken.”  

Bill C-16, the Protecting Victims Act, was passed on June 18^th, expanding the Criminal Code’s existing prohibition on the non-consensual distribution of intimate images to include certain synthetic or “deepfake” intimate images. While this is a necessary step forward, reform cannot provide justice for those who have already been failed by the legal system, and delays continue to leave victims without clear remedies.

BLE is pursuing civil action against Kumar to emphasize the importance of holding perpetrators of image-based sexual abuse accountable for their actions, including those who create and distribute synthetic intimate images without consent. To PATH Legal’s knowledge, this type of civil claim has not yet been successfully brought in Nova Scotia, where the provincial legislation contains language limitations similar to the previous Criminal Code provision.

Professor Suzie Dunn of the Schulich School of Law at Dalhousie University, an expert on intimate image distribution and image-based sexual abuse, commented on the weaknesses of Nova Scotia’s provincial legislation:

“Nova Scotia was one of the first provinces to create a civil statute to help people who’d had their images shared without consent. It is one of only three provinces in Canada with a support body, CyberScan, that provides direct supports to victims. However, the legislation has become dated and hasn’t kept up with technological changes. It doesn’t explicitly include deepfakes and lacks a fast-track option to get images taken down like the legislation in some other provinces."

In provinces with newer legislation and fast-track options, such as British Columbia, intimate-image legislation has been used repeatedly. In Nova Scotia, despite the legislation having been in force for more than a decade, there have been very few reported cases. This suggests that the application process under the statute may not be as accessible as it appears.

BLE hopes to set a precedent by blending common law principles with Nova Scotia’s Intimate Images and Cyber-Protection Act. She criticizes the government’s response to the crisis of online gender-based violence as she reflects on her experience:

“I join many who have come before me in the experience that: at every turn I have been failed by the criminal legal system. When you turn to police and the ‘justice’ system, you hope that you’ll be protected and validated. That hasn’t been my experience. I have been traumatized and re-traumatized by ‘the process.’

This experience cuts especially deep as a Nova Scotian. There was a time when we were the leader in Canada in passing provincial cyber legislation. We have seen how online harms can lead to loss of a young person, yet governments continue to drag their feet and have not prioritized amendments. 

We (all of Canada) should not—cannot—wait for loss of life to be the trigger for swift and comprehensive action and change at every level, provincial and federal, to occur.

I cannot help but wonder: Is the apathy because the harms are overwhelmingly experienced by women and girls? In the almost two-and-a-half years since this happened to me, how many people have been victimized without hope of justice? How many people are victims of similar crimes and don’t even know it?

I do not accept that ‘AI is so new’ as an excuse for not having amended, up-to-date criminal and civil legislation. I am so relieved and happy that new criminal protections are now in place in Canada with the recent passing of Bill C-16, but it's bittersweet because I was not protected. I hope Nova Scotia and other provinces take the necessary steps to fix their provincial civil legislation. And do so quickly.”

In the future, BLE hopes that the law will become more comprehensive so that victims do not have to rely on a patchwork of common law and statutory claims to obtain justice. A clearer, more effective legal process would improve access to justice for victims and better reflect the realities of technology-facilitated gender-based violence.

PATH Legal is suing Kumar on behalf of BLE for the privacy torts of intrusion upon seclusion and public disclosure of private facts, as well as non-consensual distribution of intimate images and cyber-bullying under Nova Scotia’s Intimate Images and Cyber-Protection Act.

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For media inquiries or further information, please contact:

Emma Arnold

Staff Lawyer, PATH Legal

(519) 870-0094

e.arnold@pathlegal.ca