Right To Be Forgotten Depends On How Far It Has To Be Stretched, Rights Have To Be Balanced: Delhi High Court

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday observed that the Right to be Forgotten depends on how far it has to be be stretched and that the rights of a person have to be balanced.

The oral observation came from Justice Rekha Palli who said: 

"Right to be Forgotten depends on how far it has to be stretched. Tomorrow, people who defraud the banks will come and say 'please remove the judgment'. We have to balance the rights."

The development came while the Court issued notice on a plea moved by one Sukhmeet Singh Anand seeking removal of a judgment and an order passed in connection with a 7 year old FIR registered against him, thereby invoking his Right to be Forgotten. 

The Court therefore sought response of Centre, Indian Kanoon and Google and granted a period of four weeks for the purpose of filing counter affidavit in the matter whereas two weeks time was granted for filing rejoinder, if any. 

In the plea moved through Advocate Tarun Rana, the petitioner has claimed that merely by typing his name on Google, the web page takes visitors directly to the links of the orders.

An FIR was registered against the petitioner and other persons in 2014 pursuant to a complaint by Samsung Gulf Electronic FZE Dubai and EOW Delhi.

The petitioner had thereafter challenged the non bailable warrants obtained by Police against him in the High Court which was dismissed vide order dated August 20, 2018.

Thereafter, another petition was filed by him seeking directions on the Registry to block search engines from assessing the said order. The Court had again dismissed his plea vide order dated May 31, 2019.

"It is submitted that the above re ferred judgment dated 27.03.2015 and Order dated 20.08.2018 are exhibiting on the web portal of the Respondent No.2 which can be searched by accessing through Respondent No.3. It is pertinent to mention that merely by typing the name of the Petitioner on Google it directly takes to the above referred two Orders," the plea reads.

The petition places reliance on the order passed by Justice Pratibha M Singh wherein interim protection was granted to an American Citizen of Indian origin by directing Indian Kanoon to block the judgement of his acquittal under NDPS Act from being accessed by using search engines such as Google/Yahoo etc.

"It is the admitted position that the Petitioner was ultimately acquitted of the said charges in the case levelled against him. Owing to the irreparableprejudice which may be caused to the Petitioner, his social life and his career prospects, inspite of the Petitioner having ultimately been acquitted in the said case via the said judgment, prima facie this Court is of the opinion that the Petitioner is entitled to some interim protection, while the legal issues are pending adjudication by this Court," the Court had said.

Recently, the High Court had also granted interim relief to a Bengali actress, seeking restraint on publication and streaming of her naked videos on various online platforms including YouTube.

The Court also issued notice on a plea filed by Ashutosh Kaushik, winner of Roadies 5.0 and Bigg Boss (2008), seeking directions to remove all the posts, videos, articles, etc. from the internet, allegedly sensationalizing his past life at the strength of a 2009 drunken driving case and altercation at a Mumbai cafe in 2013.

The matter will now be heard on December 1.

Title: Sukhmeet Singh Anand v. Union of India & Ors.