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07/03/2021 Right To Be Forgotten: Kerala HC Asks Indian Kanoon To Remove Name Of Rape Victim From Judgment The Kerala High Court has recently asked legal online search portal indiankanoon.com to remove the name of a rape victim from a Kerala High Court judgment published on the site. Justice Shaji P Chaly passed the interim order in a petition led by a rape victim, who was aggrieved by the disclosure of her name and personal information in the judgments rendered by Kerala High Court in two writ petitions led by her https://www.livelaw.in/right-forgotten-kerala-hc-asks-indian-kanoon-remove-name-rape-victim-judgment/ 2/19

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The Case of the Rape Survivor’s Right to Be Forgotten (India)

Case Law

Country

India

Country Location

Latitude: 23.078537445745496

Longitude: 78.60363571015989

Country Location (linked Case Law): India

Decision Date: Feb 23, 2017

Case Status: Closed

Case Outcome (Disposition)

Access Restriction/Content Regulation/Information Control

Keywords

Data Protection and Retention
Privacy
Right to be Forgotten

Judicial Body: First Instance Court

Court Name: Kerala High Court

Case Number: Civil Writ Petition No. 9478 of 2016

Case Summary: The Kerala High Court in India ordered the Respondent, IndianKanoon.com, to remove the name of the Petitioner, a rape survivor, from a judgment in a rape case which had been uploaded on its website. The Petitioner also requested that search engines including Google and Yahoo remove search results about the case that mentioned her name. The Court recognized the ‘right to be forgotten’ and the confidentiality of the Petitioner under Sec. 228A of the Indian Penal Code as well as her right to privacy and a dignified life enshrined under Art. 21 of the Constitution of India. e judgment uploaded on their website. The Court did so to protect the petitioner’s right to reputation and privacy under Article 21 of the Indian Constitution.

Columbia Global Freedom of Expression could not identify the official legal and government records because the judgment is no longer available on the Court’s website and other law reports possibly to protect the identity of the victim. Accordingly the information contained in this report was derived from secondary sources and it should be noted that media outlets may not provide complete information about the case.

Case Significance: This decision expands freedom of expression in the sense that the right to privacy is considered integral for the effective utilization of the right to expression. However, the decision’s reasoning cannot be examined in detail as the official order or judgment was not published on the Court’s website or by other legal reporters. In this sense, it might have been more conducive for open justice and free expression if the Court had redacted the petitioner’s name from the order but nonetheless published the redacted order on its website and also allowed legal reporters to report the proceedings in the case.

The decision establishes a binding or persuasive precedent within its jurisdiction. As a decision of a single judge bench of Kerala High Court, the decision is binding on all authorities and lower courts in Kerala.

Related Law

Source URL: Global Freedom of Expression

Collection

Columbia

Date Updated: Jul 3, 2024

Primary Documents

News article from LiveLaw.com discussing the case
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