Delhi High court protects Right to Be Forgotten (RTBF)

The concept of RTBF has arisen from the desires of individuals to determine the development of their life autonomously, without being perpetually or periodically stigmatized because of a specific action performed in the past. The proponent of free speech questions whether creating a right to be forgotten would decrease the quality of the Internet through censorship and the rewriting of history. Those in favor of the right to be forgotten cite its necessity due to issues such as revenge porn sites appearing in search engine listings for a person’s name. Furthermore, instances of these results referencing petty crimes individuals may have committed in the past. The central concern lies in the potential undue influence that such results may exert upon a person’s online reputation almost indefinitely if not removed

Our post discusses a recent ruling of the Delhi High Court concerning the ‘right to privacy and right to be forgotten.

Facts:

Jorawer Singh Mundy, an American citizen by birth but a person of Indian origin, came to India in 2009. At that time, Police registered a case against him under the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985. The trial court, as well as the appellate Court acquitted him of all charges.

On Petitioner completing his studies started facing massive disadvantage due to the availability of the judgment of Indian courts on the google search engine to any potential employer, who wanted to conduct his background verification before…

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