Law & Legal Studies

Right to be forgotten in case of search engines: Emerging trends in India as compared to the EU

Right to be forgotten in case of search engines: Emerging trends in India as compared to the EU

Implementation of the right to be forgotten in India would depend on the nature of data fiduciaries and their services, says this paper.

Authors

Indranath Gupta, Professor, Jindal Global Law School, O.P. Jindal Global University, Sonipat, Haryana, India.

Paarth Naithani, Assistant Lecturer, Jindal Global Law School, and Research Fellow with the Jean Monnet Chair in Multi-dimensional Approaches to the Understanding of the EU Data Protection Framework at O.P. Jindal Global University, Sonipat, Haryana, India.

Summary

In India, the right to be forgotten (RTBF) is relatively new and has been discussed in different courts. A timely discussion concerning RTBF in India is necessary as several judgments are beginning to shape its dimensions. Further, India is considering enacting comprehensive data protection legislation.

Comparing the developments in India to the rich and long-standing jurisprudence on RTBF in the European Union (EU) can help shape the discourse in India. RTBF has been established and exercised in the EU for almost a decade. In fact, the EU has had a right to erasure since 1995.

Thus, this paper examines how India and the EU have handled RTBF. The paper considers a data fiduciary in India (or a data controller in the EU), namely search engines. The paper compares India with the EU and suggests the way ahead for RTBF in India. It reflects on the fact that the implementation of RTBF would depend on the nature of data fiduciaries and their services.

Published in: Journal of Data Protection & Privacy

To read the full article, please click here.