Overview: Right To Be Forgotten
The “Right to be Forgotten” is a modern legal concept that allows a person to request the removal of their personal information from the internet, search engines, and digital platforms. In simple words, it gives individuals the power to erase data that is old, irrelevant, misleading, or harmful to their dignity. This right became important because in today’s digital age, the internet never forgets. Once information is uploaded online, it stays permanently, even if a person is found innocent later. The purpose of this right is to allow people a chance to move forward in life without carrying the baggage of their past.
Global Recognition And Legal Foundation
The right became globally known after the European Union introduced the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in 2018. Under article17 of GDPR, the Right to be Forgotten is legally recognized as the Right to Erasure, through which a person can ask digital platforms to delete their personal data under specific circumstances. This was based on the belief that technology should not control human dignity, and people must have control over their personal information.
Status In India
In India, the Right to be Forgotten is still developing. There is no particular law that grants this right directly. However, the courts have slowly started recognizing it in various judgments. The most important case is Justice K.S. Puttaswamy(retd.) and Anr. v Union Of India and Ors. (2017) where a nine-judge bench of the Supreme Court held that the Right to Privacy is a fundamental right under article 21 of the Indian Constitution. The Court recognized informational privacy as part of human dignity and acknowledged that individuals must have some control over their personal data.
High Courts And Case Law
Several High Courts have also accepted this right through different cases.The Delhi High court in Jorawar Singh Mundy v Union of India (2021) ordered digital platforms to remove the name of a man who was acquitted, because the continued online availability of the case caused serious harm to his reputation.
Balancing Privacy And Public Interest
The Right to be Forgotten walks a thin line between personal privacy and public interest. It raises many ethical, legal, technological, and social questions. Should a person’s entire past be available forever? Should harmless mistakes destroy someone’s future? Or should society always know the truth about crime, corruption, and public wrongdoing? This article explores RTBF from various angles like fundamental rights, economy, science, history and politics and also discusses challenges and real-world examples.
Fundamental Rights And Privacy
From the perspective of fundamental rights, the Right to be Forgotten is intrinsic part of the fundamental right ‘Right to privacy’ under the article 21 of the Indian Constitution. The Supreme Court in the Puttaswamy judgment clearly stated that privacy is an essential part of personal liberty and dignity. If a person has the right to control their body, home, and beliefs, they should also have the right to control their digital identity. The internet shows everything permanently, even after a person has changed, grown, or been declared innocent. RTBF protects dignity by allowing individuals to remove unnecessary and harmful personal data.
Not An Absolute Right
However, this right is not absolute. It must be balanced with other constitutional rights such as Right to Freedom of Speech and Expression under article19(1)(a)and the public’s right to Information. For example, a)Journalists may have a right to report about crimes or public scandals.
b)Society has a right to know about corruptions.
C)Court judgments are part of public record and to ensure transparency.
Therefore, the law must decide carefully, when does personal privacy end and public interest begin? If RTBF becomes too strong, powerful people may erase their wrongdoings from public memory. If RTBF becomes too weak, ordinary people may suffer permanent online humiliation for small mistakes or false accusations.
Economic Impact On Business
The Right to be Forgotten can affect businesses in many ways. For MSMEs , it may become a financial and technical burden. If RTBF becomes a legal right, companies would need advanced systems to identify personal data, locate it across many servers, verify requests, delete information permanently, and ensure it is not stored elsewhere.
This requires technology, trained employees, and updated data-management tools. Large corporations may handle these costs easily, but small businesses may struggle. Some may even avoid collecting data to escape future legal trouble.
However, RTBF also brings positive effects. When customers trust that their data is safe and can be removed if needed, they feel more confident using online services. People share personal information only when they believe companies will protect it responsibly. So, although RTBF may bring short-term cost to businesses, it can increase consumer trust, loyalty, and participation in the long run. Trust is the foundation of the digital economy.
Impact On Science And Research
Scientific research often depends on large data sets collected over many years. In fields like medicine, psychology, and social sciences, researchers store information to study patterns, find cures, and understand human behaviour. If people start requesting deletion of data, scientific research may become incomplete, unreliable, or impossible to reproduce.
For example: a) Cancer studies require long-term patient data. b)Public health studies track diseases for decades.c)Mental health studies need repeated observations.
If such data is erased, knowledge will suffer.
To balance privacy and research, scientists now use data anonymization , which means personal identity is removed while the useful information remains. This allows research to continue without harming privacy. RTBF should encourage such methods instead of completely deleting valuable data.
Historical And Social Perspective
History is not just written in books but also it exists in newspapers, government records, court judgments, and online databases. Future generations learn about society by studying the past. If people start deleting information from history using RTBF, archives may lose important truths.
For example: Criminal judgments teach legal lessons, News articles reveal public events and Government records show social progress.
If every person removed their past from the public record, future historians and researchers would have an incomplete picture. It might create a Forgotten Society where important lessons are forgotten. However, not all information is important forever. Some personal data loses value with time. So the law should allow necessary information to stay for history, while removing data that has no public benefit and only harms reputation.
Political Implications
RTBF can strongly affect politics. Politicians are public figures, and society has a right to know about their criminal cases, corruption, or public actions. If political leaders are allowed to delete negative information, they could misuse the right to build a fake public image. It would weaken democracy and hide wrongdoing.
However, there are cases where old false news or outdated allegations continue to appear online even after a politician is declared innocent. In such rare cases, RTBF can protect dignity. The law should make sure that Crimes, corruption, and public wrongdoings cannot be erased and also False or irrelevant information should be removable
RTBF must protect people, not hide the truth.
Practical Challenges And Limitations
Although RTBF protects privacy, it raises many challenges:
Companies may remove data from the main website but keep it in backups or secret archives. There is no easy way to check if data is permanently erased or stored somewhere else.
The internet does not follow country borders. Information uploaded in India may be stored on servers in the USA, Europe, China, or Africa. If Indian courts order deletion, foreign websites may ignore it. A person’s data may disappear in India but remain visible in other countries. Without international cooperation, RTBF becomes incomplete.
RTBF should not allow criminals to hide their past. If criminals erase information about their crimes, society becomes unsafe. Police and courts need access to criminal records to protect people.Journalists, historians, students, and citizens need access to truthful information. If too much data is deleted, democracy becomes weak. People cannot make informed choices, and corruption may increase.Deleting data from public records can damage education, research, journalism, and policymaking. Society needs a complete history to grow.
Concluding Reflection
The Right to be Forgotten is a powerful and deeply debated concept. It protects dignity, reputation, and privacy in a world where the internet never forgets. It gives hope to people who have been judged for years because of one mistake, outdated information, or false accusations. It shows that humans can improve and should not be punished forever by technology.
However, this right is not simple. It clashes with freedom of speech, public knowledge, crime prevention, journalism, and history. If used incorrectly, it could allow powerful people to erase crimes and hide the truth. If used carefully, it can protect ordinary people from permanent digital shame.
Case Study: Kerala Example
A recent example makes the limits of RTBF clear. In Kerala, a woman and her partner were each sentenced to 180 years of rigorous imprisonment and fined ₹11.7 lakh for repeatedly raping her 12-year-old daughter over two years. In such a case, who should be allowed to use the Right to be Forgotten? Should the criminals be permitted to erase their names from public records in the future?
Instead of answering that question directly, we must remember the real purpose of punishment. Punishment is not meant to give criminals an opportunity to hide their past and restart life without consequences. The purpose of punishment is to provide justice to the victim, protect society, and discourage others from committing similar crimes. If offenders in such serious cases are allowed to remove their identities from public history, it would disrespect the victim and weaken the law. Society cannot forget crimes of this nature, and the legal system should not allow it to be erased.
Final Thoughts And Recommendation
Therefore, the Right to be Forgotten must be applied with just and care. Ordinary people deserve protection from permanent humiliation, but public wrongdoing should never be hidden. India needs a clear legal framework that protects privacy,prevents misuse,respects freedom of speech,and keeps important information for society. In the end, RTBF should be a shield for the innocent but not a weapon for the guilty. The challenge is not to erase history, but to protect human dignity while preserving the truth.
