GS-2: Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation
Delhi High Court on Right to be Forgotten
Context: The Delhi High Court, in a recent case, upheld the view that the “Right to Privacy” includes the “Right to be Forgotten” and the “Right to be Left Alone”.
What are these rights?
Right to be forgotten or the right to erasure, is the right to have personal information removed from the Internet and other directories.
Right to be left alone – The State or the society will not interfere in the individual choices of a person so long as they do not cause harm to others. State intrusion is allowed only if necessitated by a just, reasonable, and fair law
What is the High Court Case all about?
A Bengali actor had filed a petition in the High Court to remove her audition/demo videos of the web series that were circulating on the internet.
The videos are being portrayed in a manner that infringes her privacy.
Even though the project fell through, she had not permitted the producer of the videos to publish them.
Similarly, Ashutosh Kaushik who won reality TV shows Bigg Boss in 2008 and MTV Roadies 5.0 approached the Delhi High Court with a plea saying that his videos, photographs and articles etc. be removed from the internet citing his “Right to be Forgotten”.
What are the Court’s remarks?
The Court has already held that “right to privacy” includes the right to be forgotten and the right to be left alone as “inherent aspects”.
The court held that explicit videos that are being circulated have a clear and immediate impact on the reputation of the person seen in the videos.
The court thus called for protection of the plaintiff from invasion of her privacy on account of such publication/transmission of the videos.
Do You Know?
The Right to be Forgotten falls under the purview of an individual’s right to privacy, which is governed by the Personal Data Protection Bill that is yet to be passed by Parliament.
In K.S.Puttaswamy Case of 2017, the Right to Privacy was declared a fundamental right by the Supreme Court. It held that the right to privacy is protected as an intrinsic part of the right to life and personal liberty under Article 21 of the Constitution.
