Right To Be Forgotten By Destroying Records Of Juvenile Delinquency Is Absolute, Has To Be Given Full Meaning By The State: Rajasthan HC

“For the welfare of a child, the burden of past mistakes must be lifted, offering him a fresh start to thrive, free from the weight of stigma…shadows of past transgressions should be expunged.” said the Jaipur bench of the Rajasthan High Court while directing the State to reinstate a man to the post of constable whose services were terminated for not disclosing his conviction as a juvenile. Justice Anoop Kumar Dhand in his order held, " This Court further holds that the 'right to be forgotten', regarding a Juvenile, where Section 24 of the Act of 2015, shall remain a definite right and a juvenile, who has been given the benefit of Section 24 shall be entitled for erasure of his juvenile delinquency by not putting it on record anywhere, because creation or perpetuation of such record, may highlight a kind of embarrassment to the juvenile, which in turn, would certainly have an adverse impact on his future prospects, which includes a selection process for public employment, and goes against the legislative intention of juvenile laws". This Court directs that the 'right to be forgotten' for juvenile by removal/destroying of the record of juvenile delinquency is an absolute right, and therefore, to give it a full meaning, the State as well as other Bodies, falling under the definition of 'State' as envisaged under Article 12 of the Constitution of India, are hereby lawfully restrained from seeking any information, in future, from the then juvenile about the previous record/information of his juvenile delinquency, in cases where the benefit of Section 24 of the Act of 2015 has been extended, so as to prevent any adverse impact of such delinquency on the future prospects of the juvenile," it added. After hearing the contentions, the Court accepted the arguments of the petitioner and referred to the similar provision of Section 24 of the 2015 Act as Section 19 of the 2000 Act, as well as Rule 14 of the Juvenile Justice Model Rules, 2016 that laid down destruction of record of conviction of a delinquent juvenile. “On a conjoint consideration of the 'right to be forgotten'… as well as the enactment of Sections 3 & 24 of the Act of 2015 and the Rule 14 of the Juvenile Justice Model Rules, 2016, this Court observes that in the cases of juvenile delinquency, if any criminal antecedent record of a juvenile is allowed to remain intact, to be accessed, amongst others, by using the technology tools, the same may not only bring humiliation and discredit to the juvenile, but may also adversely impact the future prospects of the juvenile, among other things.” The Court held that such a disclosure would defeat the purpose of the legislation by adversely impacting the rehabilitation as well as the socio-economic stability of the juvenile pushing him/her again towards criminal delinquency.