Landmark Judgment: Right to be Forgotten
The Delhi High Court has delivered a significant judgment recognizing the right to be forgotten as an integral aspect of the fundamental right to privacy under Article 21 of the Constitution.
Key Highlights
- Search engine operators and legal database platforms like Google and Indian Kanoon.org are required to de-index and disable an individual’s ‘name-based search functionality’ related to judgments, orders, and news articles.
- Justice Sachin Datta ruled that the function of search engines is automated and algorithmic, and they do not exercise the fundamental right to speech and expression.
- The judgment emphasizes that individuals can seek the removal or masking of personal information from online judicial records if it causes disproportionate harm to their privacy, dignity, and reputation.
- No existing law authorizes search engines to perpetually index judicial records in a way that overrides an individual's fundamental right to informational privacy.
Legal Implications
- The Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 require intermediaries to comply with court orders that direct the removal or restriction of content.
- The judgment was delivered while hearing pleas from individuals acquitted of criminal charges, involved in private civil or matrimonial disputes, or those whose names appeared incidentally in judicial records without being parties to the proceedings.
