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Synopsis

A petition invoking “Right to be forgotten” has been filed before the Delhi High Court by Dr. Ishwar Gilada who has sought removal of news and journal articles published on various online platforms pertaining to his wrongful arrest in regard to a First Information Report (FIR) against him in the year 1999.

The doctor was allegedly involved in illegally procuring medicines from abroad & administering the same to HIV patients in India. It was further alleged that he along with others mishandled HIV patients, on account of which one patient allegedly passed away.

Due to the unavailability of Justice Prathiba M. Singh on Friday, the matter was adjourned for March 15.

The petitioner, Dr. Ishwar Gilada is the first person to raise the alarm against AIDS in India (1985) and to start India’s first AIDS Clinic (1986) at the government-run JJ Hospital, Mumbai. He is a globally acclaimed HIV expert, credited with bringing India to the AIDS control map of the world. He is the President, of the AIDS Society of India (ASI) Secretary General, of Peoples Health Organization-India (PHO), and Governing Council member of the International AIDS Society.

The petitioner through Advocate Rohit Anil Rathi stated that the said articles are available both through the online platform of the publishers, namely British Medical Journal, the Lancet, NCBI, and Indian Paediatrics, and can also be searched on Google. His case is that he has already been discharged in the FIR that was registered against him in 1999.

Petitioner in his plea has relied on the trial court’s order of August 4, which stated that “there is no evidence whatsoever of the petitioner having engaged in any illegality”.

Notably, Justice Singh on February 17 had noted that Senior Advocate Arvind Nigam appearing for Google LLC would place on record other orders related to the case.

Accordingly, the single-judge bench had said, “In the meantime, considering that the publications, which are online, let an email communication be given by the Petitioner to the publications, which are online, along with the copy of this petition as an intimation to the said publishers about the filing of the present petition.”

“If they choose to join the proceedings on the next date of hearing, the following publications are allowed to do so; i. British Medical Journal, ii. The Lancet, iii. NCBI, and iv. Indian Paediatrics”, the court had added.

Right to be forgotten

It reflects the claim to be of an individual to have certain data deleted so that third persons can no longer trace them. The right enables a person to silence the past events of his life that are no longer occurring. Thus, the Right to be Forgotten entitles
individuals to have information, videos, or photographs about themselves deleted from certain internet records so that search engines cannot find them.

Case Title: Dr. Ishwarprasad Gilada v. Union of India & Ors.

Statue: The Constitution of India