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Mason & Associates reps Google in India’s second claim of a ‘right to be forgotten’ (in an online judgment) [READ PETITION]

Mason & Associates is defending Google in the Delhi high court against a writ claiming the “right to be forgotten” on the internet, in the second instance of such a claim before an Indian court.

Mason founding partner Neel Mason and litigation head Ankit Relan are acting for Google in the petition filed by a banker who has cited European Union (EU) precedent to say that he has a fundamental right to get his name delinked from certain Google searches.

“There was a criminal case involving the petitioner’s wife and mother, which was eventually settled. The petitioner wasn’t a party in the case, but because the details of the proceedings are available online, the case shows up in the results whenever his name is searched. This, he says, affects his employment opportunities. The petitioner had written to IndianKanoon for the order (related to the case being settled) to be removed from its website, and to Google for removing the link to the judgment,” reported Medianama.

Advocates Rohit Madan and Akash Vajpai are acting for the petitioner. The next hearing in the case is on Monday.

The order containing the petitioner’s name, uploaded on IndianKanoon, was passed by a magistrate. The magistrate is not a court of record, unlike the high courts and the Supreme Court, so there is likelihood that this judgment may affect the future publication of magisterial orders by case websites.

The Internet Freedom Foundation, which was co-founded by advocate Apar Gupta, intervened in the case last year, arguing that the petitioner’s claim goes against the freedom of speech, as reported by Medianama.

The Karnataka high court, earlier this year, acknowledged the right to be forgotten for the first time in India, in a case with similar facts as reported by Live Law.

Writ petition for right to be forgotten

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