Right To Be Forgotten: Indian Kanoon Moves Delhi High Court Against Ruling To Disable Name-Based Search Of Court Records

Legal database platform Indian Kanoon has moved the Delhi High Court against a recent single bench judgment recognising the “right to be forgotten” and laying down the framework for de-indexing and masking of personal information from judicial records available online.

Indian Kanoon contends that the ruling unduly curtails the principles of open justice and the public's right to access judicial records.

The matter was taken up today by a division bench comprising Chief Justice DK Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia.

Advocate Naman Gupta appeared for the platform and sought a short date, in view of lawyers abstaining from work today.

The matter is now listed on July 21.

The single judge, in its judgment delivered on May 29, directed search engines and legal database platforms to de-index and disable name-based search functionality in respect of judgments, orders and news articles covered by the petitions.

Holding that right to be forgotten is a constitutionally protected facet of informational privacy under Article 21 of the Constitution of India, the single judge laid down the framework governing de-indexing and masking of personal information from judicial records available online.

In its appeal, Indian Kanoon argues that the direction is “overboard” and prejudices the constitutional values of open justice and the right to information.

The appeal states that once information forms part of public court records, the right to privacy ordinarily does not survive over those records except in recognised statutory or judicial exceptions such as sexual offence cases, juvenile matters and other protected proceedings.

Indian Kanoon also contends that the judgment creates vague standards by requiring information to be “no longer relevant” or not serve a “legitimate public purpose”, leaving such expressions undefined and leading to arbitrary censorship of court records.

The appeal also submits that name-based searches are integral to legal research and are widely used by lawyers, litigants, researchers, students and even judges for locating precedents. Restricting such searches, it argues, disproportionately affects its business and infringes its freedom to carry on trade under Article 19(1)(g) of Constitution of India.

Title: IKANOON SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT PVT LTD v. LAKSH VIR SINGH YADAV & ORS