The Delhi High Court has ruled that acquittal in sexual offence cases warrants de-indexing of such accused from name based search results to protect reputation.

“This Court is of the view that in cases of acquittal from charges of sexual offences, where the petitioner is a private individual and no specific articulable continuing public interest in their identification can be established, the case for masking and de-indexing follows almost as a matter of course from the acquittal itself,” Justice Sachin Datta said.

The Court said that the law already protects the identity of victims of sexual offences but the stigma associated with an accusation of rape is of such severity and permanence that an acquittal is frequently insufficient to undo the reputational damage.

“A person acquitted of charges of committing rape carries indefinitely, the association with such accusation in name-based search results, not because they were found guilty but because the accusation was made and is permanently retrievable,” the judge noted.

The Court made the observations while granting relief to a man who was acquitted in a rape case and sought removal of articles upon him from various search engines.

He had urged for a broader principle to the effect that the identity of persons accused of sexual offences ought to be protected upon acquittal.

The Court directed the search engine operators and legal data base platforms to de-index, and disable, across all platforms and domains, name-based search functionality in respect of the judgments or orders or news articles complained of by him.

The Court also decided a batch of petitions filed by various individuals who had been acquitted, discharged, parties to matrimonial disputes, or whose names appeared incidentally in judicial records, seeking removal of links, masking of identities, or de-indexing of judicial records from internet search results.

Broadly, the judge held that the right to be forgotten is a constitutionally protected facet of informational privacy under Article 21 of the Constitution of India.

It also held various parameters that would govern the grant of relief of masking.

Also Read: Delhi High Court Recognises Right To Be Forgotten, Lays Down Framework For De-Indexing Judicial Records

Title: LAKSH VIR SINGH YADAV v. UNION OF INDIA & ORS

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