P. Nithish Vs Union of India (Madras High Court)
The Madras High Court disposed of a writ petition filed by an engineering graduate from Sivakasi who sought removal of records relating to a criminal case from the public domain after the prosecution against him had been quashed. The petitioner had been implicated in Crime No. 2 of 2020 registered by the All Women Police Station, Sivakasi, for offences under Sections 13, 14(1), 16 and 17 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act and Section 67(b) of the Information Technology Act, based on allegations that he had shared pornographic pictures of children through his Instagram account on 05.05.2019. He was arrested on 15.02.2020, released on bail on 03.03.2020, and subsequently obtained quashing of the criminal proceedings under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure after the Court found no trace in his mobile phone showing that such pictures had been uploaded or deleted.
The petitioner contended that continued availability of records relating to the case in the public domain would adversely affect his future career prospects. The Court declined to examine the larger question of the right to be forgotten, noting that an earlier decision had held that the doctrine could not be invoked in relation to judicial records, though relief could be granted on a case-by-case basis. The Court also noted the Union of India’s stand that the right to privacy is a fundamental right recognised in K.S. Puttaswamy v. Union of India and referred to decisions where courts had accepted the doctrine of the right to be forgotten on a case-specific basis.
