• Home
  • News
  • Longform
  • Life
    • Jeans
    • Madam Zeenat’s Feminist Tarot
  • Health
  • Work
  • Culture
    • Books
    • Art
    • Music
    • Fashion
    • Cinema
    • TV
  • Sports
  • Kranti
  • Vaanthi
  • The FAK
  • About
    • Submissions
  • Home
  • News
  • Longform
  • Life
    • Jeans
    • Madam Zeenat’s Feminist Tarot
  • Health
  • Work
  • Culture
    • Books
    • Art
    • Music
    • Fashion
    • Cinema
    • TV
  • Sports
  • Kranti
  • Vaanthi
  • The FAK
  • About
    • Submissions
HomeNewsWhy Has the Karnataka High Court Told This Woman S ...

Why Has the Karnataka High Court Told This Woman She Has the ‘Right To Be Forgotten’?

January 30, 2017

By Shikha Sreenivas

2075871949_1a8164ea08_z
Photo by turboalieno via Flickr CC 2.0

In a rare case, the Karnataka High Court complied with a woman’s “right to be forgotten”, as she did not want her name to appear on search engines in association with digital records of the High Court of a previous case. The High Court directed its Registry that no internet search in the public domain would reflect the name of the woman, since it was her ‘right to be forgotten’.

The ‘right to be forgotten’ which has been in practice in the European Union and Argentina since 2006, is so that an individual can “determine the development of their life in an autonomous way, without being perpetually or periodically stigmatised as a consequence of a specific action performed in the past.”

The High Court said that their decision was “in line with the trend in Western countries” of having the ‘right to be forgotten’. They said, this right was to do with “sensitive cases involving women in general and highly sensitive cases involving rape or affecting the modesty and reputation of the person concerned.”

Deccan Chronicle reports that the woman’s father had approached the court to know how he could mask the woman’s name from an earlier order the High Court had passed, because his daughter feared the consequences of having her name associated with the case, since it would affect her marriage and her reputation.

She had previously filed a case against a man who she said she was not married to, and so the marriage certificate should be annulled. However, the parties arrived a compromise, and she withdrew her complaint. So the High Court quashed the case against the man.

The woman’s father asked the High Court to direct the Registrar General to wipe out the name of his daughter in their digital records, so it would not be available on search engines, like Google.  The Court heard the plea and ordered that it should be the endeavour of the Registry to ensure that no internet search in the public domain should reflect the petitioner’s daughter’s name. But if a certified copy of the order is applied for, the name of the woman would still reflect properly in the copy of the order.

The ‘right to be forgotten’ has raised several questions around free speech and privacy, but this decision might be the beginning of further debates on how the right can be exercised in India.

Tags: high court, information, Karnataka, privacy, rape, right to be forgotten, search engines, sensitive, sexual assault

Share!
Tweet

ladiesfinger

About the author

Related Posts

Fact-Checking Narendra Modi’s Recent Claims About Rape and Death Sentences

The Return of MJ Akbar, Chaucer and The Sweet Buttery Feel of Himpathy

Dileep Arrested: The 5 Stages of Grief as Experienced by Malayalis Everywhere

Sure, You Don’t Think We Are Fourth place in the Women’s Safety Race. Which Place Are You Okay With?

One Response to “Why Has the Karnataka High Court Told This Woman She Has the ‘Right To Be Forgotten’?”

  1. Reply
    SaketBisani
    January 30, 2017 at 11:36 pm

    What is the name of the case

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Trending

Sorry. No data so far.

Subscribe to our email newsletter!

You May Also Like

  • After Payal Tadvi’s Death Can We Allow Medical Education to Continue to Pretend to be Casteless? May 28, 2019
  • Jokha Alharthi’s Man Booker Win Reminds Us of Oman’s Recent Slave-owning Past May 24, 2019
  • In Avengers: Endgame, Black Widow is Sexy, Sterile and So Burnt By Marvel May 12, 2019
  • Let Us Admit the Sins of Atishi Marlena May 10, 2019
  • 20 Questions for SC Panel that Cleared the CJI of Sexual Harassment Charges May 9, 2019


Online Bachchi, Dil Ki Sachchi

Come on over for feminist journalism.

Politics. Pop Culture. Health. Sex. Law. Books. Work.

We write what we want to read.

  • Terms & Conditions
  • Privacy Policy
  • Refund Policy
  • About
  • Contact Us

Subscribe to our email newsletter!

Keep up with us!

Follow Us on FacebookFollow Us on TwitterFollow Us on YouTubeFollow Us on E-mail

Trending

Sorry. No data so far.

Copyright © 2018 The Ladies Finger
Subscribe to our RSS/Atom feed here