Gujarat High Court temporarily restrains Google from deleting data in man's account for upload of childhood photos

The Gujarat High Court on Tuesday restrained Google from deleting data from the account of a 24-year-old IT professional who had claimed that his account was blocked after he uploaded childhood photos of him being bathed by his grandmother onto his Google Drive [Neel Samir Shukla v. Union of India]..Justice Vaibhavi Nanavati restrained the tech giant from deleting the data from Shukla's Google account, which was allegedly blocked for containing "explicit content" or "child pornography.""In view of the fact that the petitioner herein is not in a position to use the g-mail, google pay, UPI or such other facilities which flow from his google account, considering the fact that he has approached Google with a legal notice (dated August 03, 2023) and no steps are undertaken by the respondent (Google), by way of interim relief, his google account and google data attached with google ID is directed not to be deleted till further orders," the judge said in the order..Appearing for Shukla, Advocate Dipen Desai told the Bench yesterday that Google had communicated through an email that it would be deleting the data from his account by April 4, 2024.Google was not represented in Court in yesterday's hearing."They have not appeared despite me serving them. I am only requesting that this deletion may not be done. Otherwise I will not be able to retrieve it," Desai had urged the Court..The Court, meanwhile, sought to know if the account was blocked automatically or if it was done pursuant to a complaint. It further enquired if the mail received by Shukla (intimating that his account data would be deleted) was a genuine one or a spam message.Desai replied that Shukla's account got blocked only after he uploaded his childhood photos on to his account."I uploaded my childhood photographs. In three photographs, my grandmother was bathing me - they said it is child pornography. I have approached the State government and also the Central government for help but that was of no use. I am unable to even use Google Pay and other services for my business. Thus, at the moment I request that the deletion be stopped," Desai submitted..In April 2023, Google India informed Shukla that the action was initiated against him for violating its policy on explicit child abuse. Subsequently, he approached the tech giant company for some relief. However, Google failed to address his issue through its grievance redressal mechanism.Shukla then sought the Court's intervention on concerns that due to the blocking of his Gmail account, he is unable to access personal and professional information. Because of this, he has suffered losses in his business since he is unable to operate his decade-old email account, the Court was told.The petition further stated that it has been nearly a year now since his account has been blocked and that if the same is not unblocked before April 4, 2024, the data on his account would be deleted as per the policy of Google India.The Court had issued notice to Google in the matter last month. However, none appeared for the company on Tuesday. .Advocate Kshitij Amin represented the Union of India.Additional Government Pleader Ayaan Patel represented the State.