The Kerala High Court has admitted a petition from a person seeking the right to be forgotten. Bar and Bench has reported that the court has admitted a plea by a Nikhil S Rajan, who sought the erasure of his personal details from Google search results. This is the latest request by an Indian citizen seeking the obstruction of access to public information citing the right to privacy. Rajan, a dentist by profession, reportedly contended that when his name is searched on the internet, the first result is a bail order from 2014 containing his personal details. This is despite his subsequent acquittal in the case. The bail order, available on Indian Kanoon's website (which we are not linking here) also contains the details of the crime, Rajan's address and father's name. In his plea, he is also reported have claimed some of the details in this order are erroneous. Rajan, referring to the Supreme Court's right to privacy judgement from 2017, claimed the search result infringes on his right to privacy. Per case details on the Kerala High Court's website, Google India, the Registrar General and the Union of India have been named as respondents. What is the 'right to be forgotten'? The right to be forgotten is often considered a subset of the right to privacy. It is the right to have private information about a person to be removed from the internet, specifically from search results. It is based on the concept of permanence on the internet…
