An Appraisal of the Right to Erasure as a Part of the Right to Privacy with Special Reference to Data Protection in India and Sri Lanka

Abstract

Privacy is a concept with different dimensions. The traditional approach to privacy has considerably changed due to the advancement in science and technology. In this digital world, a vast amount of data is collected, stored and distributed. Right to erasure is an area of privacy, where the courts have acknowledged pleas of litigants who experience social boycotts or harm to reputation. It is an admitted fact that understanding the right to privacy must include the right to erasure because there is no privacy when everything is social. Data Protection is acknowledged in India and Sri Lanka through the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023(DPDP) and the Personal Data Protection Act, 2022(PDPA )respectively. This paper aims to analyze the right to erasure as an essential part of the right to privacy. It is crucial for celebrities and people with fame who attract media glare. This is required in the case of a person who is acquitted and to those who come out of prison after reformation. In this paper, the author examines the right to erasure as a part of the right to privacy in India and Sri Lanka. It also explores the International arena of the right to erasure and highlights the need to have separate statutory protection for the right as there are only judicial decisions and few provisions in the Data Protection laws in this regard. The paper concludes by pointing out the emerging social need to recognize the right to erasure as an essential aspect of the right to privacy.