HC asks Centre, Google to respond to plea of two businessmen to remove articles from Internet

The Delhi High Court Tuesday sought response of the Centre and search engine Google on a plea by two businessmen seeking to remove certain articles, relating to a criminal case lodged against them, from various online platforms. The two men said the criminal case dates back to 2002 and they have been discharged by the court in 2016.

However, the articles are still available on the Internet due to which they face social stigma on the perception of being allegedly involved in smuggling and illegal activities, they submitted.

Justice Rekha Palli issued notices to the Centre, Google and a national daily on the petition and asked them to file their replies within three weeks and listed the matter for further hearing on October 28.

The court, however, refused to grant any interim relief to the petitioners at this stage and said, “we will see”.

“You have a right to privacy but we have to see how we can balance it,” the court said.

Businessmen working in aviation sector Jaideep Mirchandani, an NRI, and Shiyaz Amani sought direction to Google and the national daily to respect their right to privacy and remove the news articles, case details and judgement regarding the criminal case relating to them from their respective online sites.

The plea said these acts are deterrent to the potential clients of the petitioners and are hampering their career growth and various opportunities.

It said the petitioners have a “right to be forgotten” or a “right to delink” in the context of the facts and circumstances of the case and they have a right to ask the authorities to remove all the links related to him on the search index which are irrelevant and obsolete and jeopardise their prospective employment opportunities and make them suffer.

The two men were booked in an alleged conspiracy and forgery case for using forged documents for illegal clearance of cargo planes. They were discharged by the court in the case in December 2016, the plea said.

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