MUMBAI: The popular face fame and former reality show contestant and Bigg Boss 2 (2008) winner Ashutosh Kaushik has filed a petition in Delhi High Court exercising his “right to be forgotten”. Ashutosh has urged Delhi HC to remove the videos, photos and articles about his fight happening in the past. As the presence of this content on the internet is having a “detrimental effect” on him as well as his family, the past should not anymore hamper the current present life and future. His petition talks about a major right one can exercise which is the right to “make mistakes without being haunted by them indefinitely.”
As per him, he doesn’t want the past chapters of his mistakes to pop up on the internet every time someone types his name in related news searches. He wants to remove the bad tags as it bothers him. These searches reflect his traffic violation incident that took place in 2009 and his brawl that happened in 2013. As per the media reports Justice Rekha Palli has issued a notice to the Union Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, Google LLC, Press Council of India and Electronic Media Monitoring Centre asking them to revert to Ashutosh Kaushik's request and listen to his sayings. Now, while the court has asked the concerned authorities to reply within 4 weeks, a hearing for the same is scheduled in the month of December.
Ashutosh quotes, “Like I stated in my petition, despite my success on silver screen, I have been suffering psychological pain for my diminutive acts that were erroneously committed a decade ago.” He further added when his mother asked him if ever the content showing his unpleasant past would be wiped off the internet, he decided to file a petition. “I decided to move the court after my mother asked me ‘ye (videos) hatenge kaise, ye bata,” says Kaushik.
Thus, stating it made him and his family got through “pain, trauma and it hurts us each day.” He adds, “I decided to take up this case legally around two years back and since then I have been in touch with my lawyer Akshat Bajpai. Due to the pandemic and other reasons we could not get a date from the court last year, and finally, we got a date of July 22 this year.”
Ashutosh also tried his best by approaching the portal and online platforms to remove it, “I approached many news websites and channels, requesting them to remove the content (videos from the past incidents) as they were ruining my reputation and causing harm to me, personally and professionally. Some news channels removed that content, while some refused, and finally, the only option I had was to take this up legally. Kahin se shadi ka rishta aata tha, toh ladki wale dekh lete thay, and they would wonder ‘isse shadi karenge apni ladki ki?’. Koi rishte wale aaye, unhone internet pe search kiya, they would find those videos and ask us about them,” says Ashutosh.
While he accepts his mistake and also states being punished for it, he doesn’t want people to assume, he continues with it. He adds, “I did something wrong in my past, I paid a price, I was punished for it, but personally, that is affecting me till now. Anyone who would see those videos would assume that I am still doing those kind of things (fights). Mujhse zyada bura meri mummy ko lagta tha. She would ask me, ‘Ye kya hai Aashu?’ I could only tell her 'main kya karun, mujhse galti ho gayi, uski mujhe saza bhi mil gayi par bhugat aaj tak raha hu.' My mom asked me ‘Ye hatenge kaise ye bata?’ I could not bear my family suffering because of this and that’s why I decided to go to the court. Ho gayi mujhse galti, maang li maafi, saza bhi mil gayi, par aur kab tak mujhe saza milegi. It was for my mom that I decided to go to the court.”
Further stating people still ask him about the incident, turning a blind eye to his good deeds. Ashutosh along with suffering from trauma and pain has missed out on projects.
“If someone would want to cast me and see those videos, they would think ‘yaar ye toh ladka aisa hai.’ Even if I was involved in some fight, have I ever fought with anyone on any set? I was punished for what I did in the past, but those videos are still there. If someone would search my name, they would not find my YouTube videos, but videos from the past as they have views in millions and no platform wants to take them down. Meri beizzati dikha dikha ke log kama rahe hain. People used to send me my own video and say ‘Bhaisahab ye kya kar diya?’ I would tell them ‘ye toh dekh lo kitne saal purana video hai ye’. No one talks about my work, but what happened around 10 years ago,” he says.
He is positive to get justice, and he quotes, “We gave the court examples from other countries of such cases where the content was removed. I can’t say much on the case, but I am just hoping for the best. Main kuch galat nahi bol raha hoon. Ho gayi thi galti, I feel very bad about the past. Ab kitni saza doge mujhe iss baat ki?”
Will the decision be in his favour or no? People are waiting to hear the judgement.
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