The Supreme Court on Monday ruled that a secretly recorded telephonic conversation of a spouse is admissible evidence in a matrimonial dispute case. The top court set aside a Punjab and Haryana High Court ruling that secretly recording a spouse’s telephone conversation amounted to a breach of privacy and cannot be admitted as evidence in a family court.
Dictating the order, Justice BV Nagarathna said some arguments have contended that allowing such conversations as evidence would jeopardise domestic harmony and matrimonial relationships and encourage snooping on spouses. “We don’t think such an argument is tenable. Suppose the marriage has reached a stage where spouses are actively snooping on each other.
In that case, that is in itself a symptom of a broken relationship and denotes a lack of trust between them,” Justice Nagarathna said while pronouncing the judgment. The bench also comprised Justice Satish Chandra Sharma. The court overruled the Punjab and Haryana High Court, which had said such recordings violate the wife’s right to privacy and cannot be admitted in court.
A bench of Justice BV Nagarathna and Justice Satish Chandra Sharma said that the right to privacy in marriage is not absolute. The court explained that while Section 122 of the Indian Evidence Act protects private conversations between husband and wife, this rule can be relaxed in cases like divorce.
The judges added, “We do not believe that there was any violation of privacy in this case. Section 122 protects confidential communication between spouses, but that has nothing to do with the broader right to privacy under Article 21 of the Constitution.” This decision could have a big impact on how evidence is used in family courts.
What was the case?
The matter began in a family court in Bathinda, where a husband filed for divorce. He submitted a CD containing a recorded phone conversation with his wife as evidence. The court accepted the recording. However, the wife challenged this in the Punjab and Haryana High Court. She argued that the recording was made without her knowledge and was a violation of her privacy.
The High Court agreed with her and ruled that such a recording cannot be used as evidence. It referred to earlier decisions, including one by the Andhra Pradesh High Court, and said that secretly recording private conversations between husband and wife is legally wrong. Husband’s argument: No witnesses in private matters, technology-based evidence is necessary
The husband’s lawyer argued that the right to privacy is not absolute and must be balanced with other constitutional rights. He said that many issues between a husband and wife happen in private, without any witnesses. In such situations, technology-based evidence, like recorded conversations, becomes important to prove facts in court.
