NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday set aside a Punjab and Haryana High Court order that prevented a man from using secret phone call recordings or surveillance of his wife as evidence in divorce proceedings, while noting that these recordings wouldn’t be considered a “a violation of privacy.”
A two-judge bench, comprising Justices B V Nagarathna and Satish Chandra Sharma, said, “We do not think there is any breach of privacy in this case. Section 122 of the Evidence Act does not recognise any such right. On the other hand, it carves out an exception to the right to privacy between spouses and therefore, cannot be applied horizontally at all.”
Earlier, the Punjab and Haryana HC Judge Justice Lisa Gill had held that recording a wife’s telephonic conversations or snooping on her amounted to “clear breach of privacy” of her fundamental right and thereby cannot be admitted as evidence before a Family Court during the matrimonial proceedings or case.
Before the HC verdict, a Family Court in Bathinda had allowed a husband to rely on certain recordings of phone calls against his wife to support claims of cruelty.
Later, the woman challenged this in the HC, saying that the recordings were made by her husband without her knowledge or consent and violated her fundamental right to privacy. The HC accepted the wife’s plea and ruled the evidence inadmissible, stating that surreptitious recording amounted to a clear breach of privacy and was legally unjustified.
Eventually, the SC restored the trial court order and said recorded conversations can be taken note of during the matrimonial proceedings. It, thereby, in its verdict, asked the family court to proceed with the case after taking judicial note of the recorded conversations.
While reversing the HC judgement, the HC observed, “If the marriage has reached a stage where spouses are actively snooping on each other, that is in itself a symptom of a broken relationship and denotes a lack of trust between them.”
The SC pronounced the verdict after hearing an SLP filed by the husband.
Also in top court
Cartoonist to delete posts after SC rap
The top court has directed the president and secretary of the Gautam Budh Nagar district court bar association to appear before it over the alleged manhandling of a senior advocate. A two-judge bench on March 21 last year directed both the office bearers to appear before it but they failed to comply with the order.
SIMI continues on five year ban
The Supreme Court rejected a plea filed by a former SIMI member, challenging an order of a tribunal which confirmed the 5-year extension of ban imposed on SIMI. The tribunal was constituted under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 after the Centre had on January 29, 2024 decided to extend the ban.