Two recent judgments from the Delhi High Court, both centred on the fundamental right of privacy, should have Indian journalists very worried about the future of their profession. Both judgments have the potential to open the floodgates of privacy litigation against the Indian media. Such litigation has the potential to dramatically increase legal costs for the Indian media and could eventually have a chilling effect on newsrooms as editors self-censor reportage in anticipation of privacy claims.
The first judgment delivered on May 29 by Justice Sachin Datta articulated a broad ‘right to be forgotten’, grounded in the fundamental right to privacy. His judgment has ordered databases and search engines to de-index (across the globe) specific search results linking to news reports or judgments of persons who have been acquitted in certain criminal proceedings or persons who have been involved in matrimonial proceedings before the courts, etc.
