# Delhi HC: case-number search no substitute for name search 2026-08-20T11:58:59+00:00 | Governance | Indian Opinion Desk Corroboration: 1 independent outlet The Delhi High Court observed that restricting access to court orders through name-based searches is not a substitute for complete de-indexing, even when the right to be forgotten is upheld. The division bench made the remark while hearing Indian Kanoon's challenge to a single-judge order that directed Google and Indian Kanoon to remove or restrict access to judgments and news reports naming certain litigants. Senior Advocate Arvind Datar, representing Indian Kanoon, argued that judicial orders cannot be deleted like news reports, and that the platform is the only legal website affected by the order. He noted that the same judgments remain accessible on SCC Online, Manupatra and Taxmann. Senior Advocate Akhil Sibal, arguing for the right-to-be-forgotten petitioner, said the stigma of past legal proceedings never goes away with unrestricted online access. The right to be forgotten is not a statutory right in India but has been recognised as part of the fundamental right to privacy in the Puttaswamy judgment. The court will hear the case again on September 2. ## Indian Opinion Analysis The Delhi High Court is grappling with a core tension: the right to be forgotten, rooted in privacy, and the principle that judicial records must remain public. Indian Kanoon's argument that it alone is singled out matters because the platform provides free access, while paid databases like SCC Online and Manupatra remain untouched. The September 2 hearing may clarify whether de-indexing orders can be platform-specific. Any ruling here will set a precedent for how Indian courts balance privacy against open justice, especially for decades-old cases where the litigant has moved on. Watch for whether the court prescribes a uniform rule or leaves it to case-by-case balancing. ## Coverage - medianama.com Reports court proceedings and arguments without editorialising, using Bar and Bench as secondary source. This story was synthesised by AI from the source linked above. Tags: C Hari Shankar, Delhi High Court, Google, Indian Kanoon, Puttaswamy judgment, right to be forgotten Canonical: https://indianopinion.org/delhi-hc-case-number-search-no-substitute-for-name-search/ License: Summary and commentary (c) Indian Opinion, reusable with attribution. Facts belong to the linked sources. Cite: https://indianopinion.org/delhi-hc-case-number-search-no-substitute-for-name-search/#story-in-brief Review state: restored archive article, accurate at time of publication, not offered to search indexes. How this brief was made: an AI model read the report linked above and wrote this summary and analysis, which were published automatically. Published briefs are sampled every hour by an automated quality check; the editor verifies its findings and approves corrections, and corrected briefs carry a dated correction line. We do no original reporting. Methodology: https://indianopinion.org/ai-use-policy/