Names of acquitted persons cannot be removed from records in absence of statutory backing: Madras High Court

By - Divisha Shrivastava*

Karthick Theodre (the petitioner) was accused of charges under Sections 417 (cheating) and 376 (rape) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), and was acquitted of all the charges so. Pursuant to this he filed a writ petition in the High Court to have his name removed from the judgment.

The petitioner stated that because he was cleared of all accusations against him, his name should be deleted from the case's final decision because it is damaging his reputation in society.

The Court observed that the administration of justice is a public-interest. As a result, the right to be forgotten cannot exist in the administration of justice, particularly in the context of court judgments.

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The court observed that for now no data protection act exists and the government is under process to ensure the protection of every person’s privacy. The court further said that there is no legislation that allows the accused's name to be removed from the case even after he has been cleared of all charges.

Submissions came from a variety of perspectives, and the effective submissions that came from the bar were praised by the bench. “...this Court will be failing in its duty if it does not once again acknowledge the assistance rendered by the Bar in deciding this sensitive and knotty issue,” the bench said.

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The Court had previously expressed a prima facie view that an acquitted accused has a right to have his name deleted from court documents, and had sought input from the Bar on the issue. After a lengthy hearing, the Court has come to the conclusion that such a right does not exist without statutory support.

“This Court honestly feels that our criminal justice system is yet to reach such standards where courts can venture to pass orders for redaction of name of an accused person on certain objective criteria prescribed by rules or regulations. It will be more appropriate to await the enactment of the Data Protection Act and Rules thereunder, which may provide an objective criterion while dealing with the plea of redaction of names of accused persons who are acquitted from criminal proceedings,” the court held.

*Divisha Srivastava is a 1^st year student pursuing B.B.A.LL.B from S.N.D.T School of Law, Mumbai, Maharashtra.

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