MUMBAI, July 15 -- Recognising the "right to be forgotten", the Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court has ordered the removal of a man's name and personal details from judgments and court records online, stating that retaining information of criminal proceedings quashed years ago would serve no public purpose. Observing that the concept of right to privacy incorporates the right to be forgotten, a division bench of justices Urmila Joshi-Phalke and Nivedita Mehta said, "While the access to information is a fundamental aspect of democracy, the same cannot be divorced from the need to balance the right to information of the public with the individual's right to privacy." The bench was hearing a petition filed by a 37-year-old environment and climate change consultant who was booked in 2017 in a criminal case. He contended that although the high court had quashed the FIR against him after all parties settled the dispute amicably seven years ago, the unredacted digital records of the judgment remain prominently accessible online and indexed by external search engines. He added that these records invariably surface during routine professional and educational background checks, thereby severely prejudicing his career progression and causing profound social stigma to his family. Enforcing his fundamental rights, the man argued that he has a right to protect his reputation from unfair harm, and that such "protection of reputation needs to exist not only against falsehood but also certain truths". The court relied on previous judgments of the Delhi and Bombay high courts to conclude that the "right to privacy" is a fundamental right and an intrinsic part of Article 21 of the Constitution of India. Noting that no criminal proceedings were pending against the petitioner, the bench on July 3 directed the court's registry to remove his name from all records on its website and search results relating to earlier criminal cases....