Kerala HC seeks response of Google, others for masking personal details in online judgement

Kochi : The Kerala High Court has sought responses from Google, the high court administration, and Indian Kanoon in a petition seeking to mask or remove the personal details of two persons from a judgment uploaded online in a criminal case.

Justice Devan Ramachandran sought the response while considering a plea filed by two persons who were earlier arrayed as the accused in a criminal case that was ultimately quashed after an out-of-court settlement.

One of the petitioner pointed out that he is an academic who is doing his PhD besides holding an important position and even after the High Court quashed the case, the official website of the High Court and online platforms like Indian Kanoon still shows the case, which is accessible by everyone and affects their (the applicants) everyday life.

"The publication of the judgment online and allowing the same to remain online for eternity infringes upon the right to be forgotten which is a facet of the right to privacy," said the plea of the petitioner who also points out that his requests to remove the same with the authorities concerned failed to get any positive response and hence, he was forced to move the court.