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24. The learned counsel for the plaintiff has relied upon the decisions of - the Hon'ble Apex Court in - K.S. Puttaswamy (Retd.) vs. Union of India, (2017) 10 SCC 1; the High Court of Himachal Pradesh in State of HP Vs. 'X', 2024 SCC OnLine HP 3169 and the High Court of Karnataka in XXXX vs. Registrar General, High Court of Karnataka, represented by State Public Prosecutor and Others, 2024 SCC Online Kar 18, to contend that the right to be forgotten is an inherent aspect of right to privacy and thus, the plaintiff cannot be seen as an accused and chastised for all his life, especially when he has been honourably acquitted by the court of law.

26. Therefore, the question which confronts this Court at this stage is whether any direction to the defendants is warranted to remove the posts / articles containing libelous and defamatory contents against the plaintiff in respect of a criminal case in which the plaintiff has secured honourable acquittal, which has attained finality.

27. The answer is not far to seek. In Registrar General, High Court of Karnataka (supra) the High Court of Karnataka dealing with somewhat similar situation has observed that after the accused gets blame-free by a process of law, he cannot be seen to be carrying the sword of him being accused on his head for all his life. The Court further noted that right to oblivion; right to be forgotten are the principles evolved by the democratic nations, as one being a facet of right to informational privacy.

"9. Accordingly, recognising the Plaintiff's Right to privacy, of which the 'Right to be forgotten' and the 'Right to be left alone' are inherent aspects, it is directed that any republication of the content of the originally impugned articles dated 12th October 2018 and 31st October 2018, or any extracts/or excerpts thereof, as also modified versions thereof, on any print or digital/electronic platform shall stand restrained during the pendency of the present suit."

"20. Thus, there can be no dispute that right of privacy of which the right to be forgotten and the right to be left alone are inherent aspects. Once that be so, obviously, the names of the prosecutrix as also the appellant need to be masked/erased so that they do not appear/visible in any search engine, least the same is likely to jeopardize and cause irreparable hardship, prejudice etc., not only to the respondent and the prosecutrix, but to their little daughter in their day-today life, career prospects etc. etc.