Right to be Forgotten
By : Sheetal Joon- Content Editor with LatestLaws
On Friday, the Madras High Court made a historic observation wrt 'Right to be Forgotten'.
The Right to be Forgotten refers to the right to have one's personal details removed from the public domain, including the internet, once such information is no longer relevant or required to be publicly available.
The single-judge bench of Justice N Anand Venkatesh stated that an accused person who is eventually acquitted of all charges would be entitled to have his name redacted from court orders (pertaining to the crime he was earlier accused of) in protection of his Right to Privacy.
The observation came out during hearing plea of a man seeking redaction his name from the Court's judgment as he was acquitted in all chrages by High Court.
It was argued by the petitioner that he can no longer be identified as an 'accused' in the eye of law after the acquittal.
Court, prima facie seeing merit in the case went ahead to write a detailed judgement on the subject. It has invited the response of the concerned authorities as well as members of the Bar on the issue so as all remification can be called into consideration.
The Court has observed that "Acquitted person entitled to get his name redacted from judgment to protect right to privacy,"
Supreme Court Judgement in support of Case
The Court cited Supreme Court's historic judgment in Puttasamy v. Union of India, whereby the Right to Privacy is now recognized as a Fundamental Right. Thus an acquitted person would be entitled to have his name redacted from judgments referring to him as an accused, the Court noted.
In the order it ruled:
"If the essence of this Judgment is applied to the case on hand, obviously even a person, who was accused of committing an offence and who has been subsequently acquitted from all charges will be entitled for redacting his name from the order passed by the Court in order to protect his Right of Privacy"
First Impressions in Social Media Age
Justice Venkatesh also observed that in today's world of Social Media, the first impressions are often created based on the information obtained through quick google searches and authenticity of any false information is highly ignored.
In a world under the grips of social media, online data can mar any person's character, the Court observed.
In this view, the Judge took note of the petitioner's grievance and noted that the fact that his name is associated with criminal accusation earlier levelled against him do impacts his reputation and it is unfortunate the petitioner has to bear this.
Data Protection Bill 2019
The High Court further threw light on importance of the Data Protection Bill 2019 currently under process. Justice Venkatesh observed:
"Under prevailing laws, only the identities of victims who are women and children have to be kept confidential when writing judgments and as a result their names do not get reflected in court orders and judgments."
He also remarked in the order that the Delhi High Court had recently directed websites to redact the name of a petitioner in similar circumstances.
Adjourning the matter for next hearing on July 28th, Justice Venkatesh has aksed the Registry to publish the order in the Advocate Associations and Bar Associations both in the Principal Bench and the Madurai Bench of the High Court and sought assistance of Bar Members in the issue.
The order has been delivered by single-judge bench of Justice Venkatesh on 16-07-2021.
Picture Source :
Sheetal Joon- Content Editor with LatestLaws
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