INFORMATIONAL AUTONOMY UNDER ARTICLE 21: THE CONSTITUTIONAL STATUS OF THE RIGHT TO BE FORGOTTEN

Abstract

Seventy-five years after the adoption of the Constitution of India, Article 21 has evolved from a procedural safeguard into a substantive guarantee of dignity, autonomy and informational privacy. In the digital age, where personal data may remain perpetually accessible through search engines and online archives, individuals increasingly seek protection against disproportionate harm arising from continued digital exposure, giving rise to claims framed as a right to be forgotten. While the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 provides a statutory right to erasure, the constitutional status of a broader right to be forgotten remains unsettled. This study undertakes a doctrinal analysis of constitutional provisions, judicial precedent and statutory frameworks to examine whether informational autonomy under Article 21 extends to claims restricting digital accessibility. It argues that recognising the right to be forgotten as an independent restriction on expression would unsettle the structural exhaustiveness of Article 19(2), and that any constitutional accommodation must accordingly remain derivative and limited, structured through proportionality and harmonised with the constitutional commitment to open justice and democratic transparency. The paper proposes a principled framework to guide adjudication consistent with India's constitutional structure in the digital age.