FROM PERPETUAL DIGITAL MEMORY TO THE JURIDICAL PROMISE OF OBLIVION: A CONSTITUTIONAL EXAMINATION OF THE RIGHT TO BE FORGOTTEN UNDER ARTICLE 21

Abstract

Digitalisation has radically transformed the nature of personal. What once faded naturally from public consciousness now outlives its online existence. This paper examines the Right to Be Forgotten (RTBF) as a constitutional response to dangers of technological permanence. Though not expressly codified, RTBF draws its legitimacy from Article 21 of the Indian Constitution, as recognised by the Supreme Court in the Puttaswamy case. However, the procedural infrastructure and institutional structure for its enforcement remain fragmented. The paper undertakes a doctrinal and comparative analysis of RTBF, situating it within India’s evolving privacy jurisprudence and relating it to international frameworks—including the GDPR, the UDHR, and the ICCPR—each of which treats informational self-determination as a human right. The paper offers critical scrutiny of the DPDP Act, 2023, and the DPDP Rules, 2025, for failure to recognise RTBF as an independent right undermining constitutional proportionality. Concluding reforms are proposed in areas including algorithmic anonymity, data-expiration norms, posthumous digital dignity, and gendered digital harm. It concludes by articulating the constitutional ethic of the juridical promise of oblivion as a prerequisite against the technological permanence of information.