NEW DELHI: Recognising an individual’s “right to be forgotten”, the Delhi High Court has ruled that search engines like Google cannot be perpetually permitted to show judicial records in name-based search for a case which is private in nature or has ended in an acquittal, discharge, quashing or settlement.
Giving relief to a group of petitioners, the court ordered authorities, search engine operators and legal database platforms to de-index and disable their “name-based search functionality” in respect of judgments, orders and news articles cited by the petitioners.
The court, however, held that de-indexing is not appropriate in certain cases involving conviction for offences against women or children or for offences involving breach of public trust, offences by public servants, elected representatives, etc.
De-indexing refers to the removal of a specific web page or website from a search engine’s database.
Justice Sachin Datta said while transparency is integral to judicial independence and accountability, the continued association of an individual’s name with a judicial record online causes disproportionate harm to their informational privacy, dignity and reputation, which is not justified by any legitimate public interest.
The judge said the “right to be forgotten” — which is a “broader manifestation of the right to privacy” under Article 21 of the Constitution — protects individuals from “perpetual exposure” to irrelevant past events, and no legitimate aim is served by “unlimited and unrestricted namebased searchability” of judicial records related to proceedings that have been resolved.