Recently, a Delhi court invoked the right to be forgotten and directed major media outlets and online search engines to remove and de-index news reports concerning a banker who was cleared in the Moser Baer money-laundering case. The Court observed that the enduring nature of digital content and its easy accessibility were continuing to harm the Plaintiff’s reputation despite his exoneration. It held that the outdated information had no remaining purpose and was now detrimental to his dignity, noting that there was no public interest in retaining material about an individual once proceedings had concluded and the person had been found not guilty.
The Court highlighted that the persistent availability of old reports was affecting the banker's standing, even though he was discharged in August last year and the complaint itself was dismissed in July 2025. The Court found that all three conditions for granting interim relief prima facie case, a balance of convenience, and irreparable harm, were satisfied in his favour.
Referring to key rulings such as KS Puttaswamy, Rakesh Jagdish Kalra, and Jorawar Singh Mundy, the court reaffirmed that the right to be forgotten can be applied when a person who has been exonerated seeks protection from ongoing online stigma. As an interim measure, it restrained the media from publishing or republishing any further content linking the banker to the case and ordered them to delete, block, de-index, and de-reference the URLs mentioned in the plaint. Search engine Google and legal database India Kanoon were also directed to ensure that these links do not appear in search results until the suit is finally decided.
The development follows a related proceeding earlier this year, in which a special court discharged an industrialist in two alleged banking-fraud matters. Both cases had arisen from accusations by banks regarding loan defaults that they claimed caused financial losses, but the proceedings were weakened as the banks had withheld sanctions for the CBI to investigate several of their officials.
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