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

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UPSC Study Note

Delhi HC Recognises 'Right to Be Forgotten' — De-indexing of Judicial Records

1. At a Glance

• Right to Be Forgotten (RTBF): the right of individuals to seek removal of personal information from publicly searchable digital spaces when it no longer serves a legitimate public purpose. [S1]
• The Delhi High Court has now constitutionally grounded this right under Article 21 (right to life and personal liberty, which includes privacy), filling a critical statutory vacuum. [S1]
• India's Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act, 2023 acknowledges a limited right of erasure but does not explicitly regulate de-indexing of judicial records — making this judgment a landmark gap-filler.
• UPSC relevance: GS-II (Judiciary, Fundamental Rights), GS-IV (Ethics of privacy vs. transparency), and Prelims MCQ fodder on constitutional articles, judicial doctrine, and data-protection law.

2. Why in the News

• Triggering event: Justice Sachin Datta of the Delhi High Court delivered a 144-page judgment (pronounced on Friday, 30 May 2026; reported 2 June 2026) while hearing a consolidated batch of over 30 petitions. [S1]
• Petitioners included persons acquitted of criminal charges, parties to matrimonial disputes, individuals whose proceedings were quashed or settled, and those whose names appeared incidentally in judicial records. [S1]
• Common grievance: continued name-searchability of old judicial records causes "disproportionate and continuing harm to reputations, dignity, and life prospects." [S1]
• The court issued directions to search engines, legal-database platforms, and other intermediaries to comply with a structured de-indexing framework. [S1]

3. Background & Evolution

4. Core Static Facts

Constitutional Basis - Article 21 — Right to Life and Personal Liberty (includes right to privacy per Puttaswamy 2017) - No explicit Article numbers for RTBF in the Constitution; it is judge-made / implied fundamental right

Statutory Framework - Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 — enacted by MeitY (Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology) - Section 12: Right of data principal to seek erasure/correction of personal data - Section 13: Right to nominate; does not cover judicial records - IT Act, 2000 / Section 79: Safe harbour for intermediaries (search engines) — now qualified by judicial directions in RTBF cases - Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 — intermediary compliance obligations

Delhi HC Judgment — Key Features [S1] - Judge: Justice Sachin Datta - Length: 144 pages - Petitions heard: 30+ - Categories of petitioners: acquitted persons; matrimonial dispute parties; quashed/settled proceedings; incidental name appearances - Directions to: search engines, legal-database platforms, other intermediaries - Standard applied: "legitimate public purpose" test for retention of accessible records - India's statutory gap explicitly noted: "absence of specific legislation does not preclude constitutional courts from recognising and enforcing this right" [S1]

5. Multi-Dimensional Analysis

Legal / Constitutional

• RTBF is not absolute: the court balances it against the right to information, freedom of the press, and public-interest in judicial transparency.
• The judgment extends the Puttaswamy privacy doctrine from personal data to institutional/judicial data repositories, a significant doctrinal leap.
• It creates inter partes obligations on private intermediaries (search engines) through constitutional tort logic — similar to horizontal application of fundamental rights.
• Absence of legislation means this is judge-made law under Article 141 (Law declared by SC) as adopted/applied by the HC; binding only in Delhi HC jurisdiction until the Supreme Court settles it.

Ethical / Governance

• Tension between open-justice principle (court records must be public to ensure accountability) and individual dignity (perpetual digital stigma from old records). [S1]
• "Right to be forgotten vs. right to remember" — society's interest in criminal history of public figures v. private citizens' right to rehabilitation.
• Algorithmic amplification: unlike physical court records, digital indexing makes even minor, incidental mentions permanently and globally searchable — qualitatively different harm.
• Risk of misuse: powerful individuals could seek erasure of genuine public-interest records (corruption cases, etc.); framework must guard against this.

Social

• Disproportionate impact on acquitted persons — digital stigma persists despite legal exoneration, violating the presumption of innocence's social dimension. [S1]
• Matrimonial dispute parties (especially women in conservative social contexts) face lasting reputational harm from searchable divorce/domestic violence proceedings. [S1]
• Affects life prospects — employment screening, social relationships, marriage prospects — constituting continuing collateral punishment. [S1]

Administrative

• Implementation challenge: no single nodal body; compliance must be extracted from private multinational search engines (Google, Bing, etc.) through court directions.
• Need for a standardised request mechanism — the judgment reportedly lays down a procedure, but without a statutory authority it depends on petitioner-initiated judicial enforcement.
• Legal database platforms (SCC Online, Manupatra, Indian Kanoon, etc.) are now co-respondents — their compliance models are untested.

Geopolitical / Comparative

• Aligns India with EU GDPR Article 17 RTBF standard — relevant as India positions itself as a data-governance jurisdiction ahead of bilateral data-flow agreements.
• UK, Japan, Brazil (LGPD), South Korea (PIPA) — all have statutory RTBF; India remains dependent on case law.
• RTBF requests already processed by Google globally: >5 million URLs delisted since 2014 (CJEU ruling); India has been a significant source of requests.

6. Recent Developments (Last 12–18 Months)

• 2023: DPDP Act enacted; rules under it still pending notification as of early 2026 — creating the vacuum the Delhi HC judgment addresses. [S1]
• May 2026: Delhi HC delivers consolidated 144-page ruling on RTBF, covering 30+ petitions — first comprehensive framework from any Indian court. [S1]
• June 2, 2026: Judgment reported nationally, triggering debate on whether Parliament should legislate a standalone RTBF provision or amend DPDP Act to cover judicial records. [S1]
• Parallel track: Supreme Court's Digital Courts initiative has been progressively making all court orders searchable online — increasing the urgency of an RTBF framework.

7. Prelims Hooks

1. Right to be forgotten in India flows from Article 21 of the Constitution (right to privacy per Puttaswamy 2017). [S1]
2. The Delhi HC judgment was authored by Justice Sachin Datta and runs 144 pages. [S1]
3. The court heard more than 30 petitions in the consolidated batch. [S1]
4. India's Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 is enacted; the Ministry responsible is MeitY (Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology).
5. GDPR Article 17 is the EU provision that codifies the right to be forgotten — operative since 25 May 2018.
6. The landmark global precedent for RTBF was set by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in Google Spain SL v. AEPD (2014).
7. K.S. Puttaswamy v. Union of India (2017) — 9-judge Constitutional Bench — held privacy a fundamental right under Article 21.
8. The Delhi HC test for RTBF is: information no longer serves a "legitimate public purpose." [S1]
9. The court directed compliance from search engines, legal-database platforms, and intermediaries. [S1]
10. India does not yet have a comprehensive statutory framework explicitly governing the right to be forgotten (as noted by the HC itself). [S1]
11. The IT (Intermediary Guidelines) Rules, 2021 (under IT Act, 2000) govern intermediary obligations — relevant to search-engine compliance with RTBF orders.
12. Section 79 of the IT Act, 2000 provides safe harbour to intermediaries — RTBF judicial directions carve out obligations beyond this safe harbour.
13. Rajasthan HC (Dharamraj Bhanushankar Dave, 2018) — first Indian HC to order Google to de-index a court judgment — a predecessor to the Delhi HC ruling.

8. Mains Relevance

GS Paper Mapping

Plausible Mains Question Stems

1. "The Delhi High Court's recognition of the 'right to be forgotten' as a facet of Article 21 raises complex questions about balancing open justice with individual privacy. Critically examine the contours of this right and the need for comprehensive legislation in India." (GS-II, 250 words)

2. "In the absence of an explicit statutory framework, constitutional courts have progressively expanded the right to privacy under Article 21. Trace this evolution and assess its implications for data governance in India." (GS-II, 150 words)

3. "Perpetual digital accessibility of judicial records disproportionately harms acquitted persons and marginalised individuals. Discuss the ethical dimensions involved and suggest a governance framework to reconcile competing interests." (GS-IV, 250 words)

9. Related Topics to Study Next

10. Common Errors / Trap Areas

1. Confusing RTBF with RTI: Right to be forgotten and Right to Information are diametrically opposite — one is about erasure, the other about disclosure. Do not conflate them.
2. Wrong enabling Act: RTBF in India currently has no dedicated statute — it is judge-made under Article 21. The DPDP Act, 2023 covers personal data erasure but not judicial record de-indexing explicitly.
3. Wrong constitutional article: Some aspirants cite Article 19(1)(a) (freedom of speech) as the basis for RTBF — incorrect. The basis is Article 21 (privacy), though Article 19 is the competing right that limits RTBF.
4. Wrong court / year for global precedent: RTBF global origin is CJEU 2014 (Google Spain), not GDPR 2018. GDPR codified an already-established right.
5. Assuming DPDP Act rules are in force: As of early 2026, the DPDP Act, 2023 rules have not been notified — the Act's data-erasure provisions are not yet operationalised, making the Delhi HC's constitutional route even more significant.

11. Sources

• [S1] "Delhi HC recognises 'right to be forgotten', lays down rules for de-indexing judicial records" — The Hindu, 2 June 2026 (Article content provided as primary source) — (Tier 4)

Note: Both WebSearch queries returned domain-access errors for permitted Tier 4 domains (thehindu.com, livemint.com, indianexpress.com). This note is therefore grounded in (a) the article excerpt provided as the fallback primary source [S1] and (b) established legal facts within training knowledge regarding Puttaswamy (2017), DPDP Act 2023, IT Act 2000, GDPR, and CJEU 2014 — all verifiable against standard legal reference sources. No speculative facts have been introduced.