Delhi HC recognises ‘right to be forgotten’, lays down framework for de-indexing judicial records

Key Takeaways

• The Delhi High Court has held that the "right to be forgotten" flows from the constitutional right to privacy under Article 21 and enables individuals to seek removal of personal information from public digital accessibility when it no longer serves a legitimate public purpose.
• Justice Sachin Datta, in a 144-page judgment delivered on May 29, laid down a framework governing de-indexing of judicial records from search engines and masking of personal identifiers from publicly accessible court records.
• Also read: On the ‘right to be forgotten’ from judicial records | Explained “India presently lacks a comprehensive statutory framework explicitly governing the right to be forgotten.
• However, the absence of specific legislation does not preclude constitutional courts from recognising and enforcing this right,” the court remarked.
• The court’s decision came while hearing over 30 petitions filed by a diverse group of individuals, including persons who had been acquitted of criminal charges, parties to matrimonial disputes, persons whose proceedings had been quashed or settled, and individuals whose names appeared incidentally in judicial records.