The issue of whether online records of persons who were accused in criminal cases should be erased from the public domain once the case is quashed or closed has risen before as well.
Earlier this year, the Gujarat High Court opined that the media should delete news articles reporting on the lodging of an FIR once such a case is quashed. If not, they could harm the reputation and goodwill of the person against whom the case was lodged, the Court had orally observed.
In July this year, a person acquitted in a cheating case moved the Kerala High Court to remove references to his name as an ‘accused’ on internet platforms.
The Kerala High Court was also called to decide on similar pleas earlier as well, where the “right to be forgotten” was cited by a rape accused in one case, and by a rape survivor in another case.
While responding to yet another such case before the Kerala High Court, Indian Kanoon had earlier asserted that the right to privacy cannot be extended to protect an individual from publications based on public records, including court orders.
Source: Barandbench
