Delhi High Court: Ordered Removal Of Online Articles And Publication Against Man Booked For Extortion Over Immature Prank With Friends

The Delhi High Court in the case SJ v. Union of India And Ors observed and has ordered for the removal of online articles and the publication in relation to the man against whom an FIR has been lodged in the year 2021 for the offence of extortion by a friend due to his immature prank which was later being settled and the same is quashed last year.
The bench headed by Justice Prathiba M Singh in the case observed and has grnated relief to the 33-year-old, who was being suspended by his employer until removal of the articles.
In the present case, the FIR was registered for the offences as stated under section 384 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 and section 66A and section 67A of the Information Technology Act, 2000. Thus, the court quashed the same after the parties entered into a settlement on 02.06.2022.
The court in the case observed while granting him relief that the entire career of man, the young executive is likely to be jeopardized due to the continued presence of the articles on the internet.
It has also been noted by the bench headed by Justice Singh that the court has to draw a balance between the right to access information in general and the man’s well-being, the mental health, career prospects and prospects in life and the family. The court in the case observed and has stated that the fulcrum of any society wherein following the Rule of law would be to reform a person and not to condemn a person permanently. Therefore, the said court while bearing the said factors in mind and considering the order extracted above, thus, it being deemed appropriate in order to direct all the publishers i.e., the Respondent No.3 to 10 to remove the article.
Therefore, the court in the case observed and has directed the Union Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology to issue the directions for blocking of any articles which relates to the man and the FIR lodged within 48 hours.
The court in its order stated the counsel appearing for the Petitioner shall provide ld. Counsel appearing for the Respondent submitted that all the specific URLs of the articles of which removal is sought. Thus, the said URLs shall be removed within 48 hours and the access to the same shall be blocked of by the Respondents.
Accordingly, the court in the case granted one weeks’ time to The Indian Express in order to remove the articles in question.