Shimla: Telephone conversations recorded without consent are inadmissible as evidence as doing is a breach of the Right to Privacy, the Himachal Pradesh High Court recently ruled, rejecting a petition by a man who sought to admit in court a recorded conversation between his wife and her mother.
The court observed that a telephone conversation is an important facet of an individual’s private life and the right to hold a telephone conversation in the privacy of one’s home or office without interference could certainly be claimed as a 'Right to Privacy'.
In the petition challenging a judgment from 2022 under the Family Court Act, Justice Bipin Chandra Negi said it is illegal to collect evidence by tapping telephones contrary to the procedure established by law.
The husband who filed the petition had demanded in the family court to keep the recorded conversation of the respondent's wife with her mother (husband's mother-in-law) on the court record. The trial court rejected the petitioner's application and the demand to bring the recording on record.
The petitioner challenged these orders in the High Court which rejected the petition and said that such evidence is considered illegal under the law, as it violates his right to privacy.
"Considering the privacy of one's home or office, the right to talk on the telephone definitely comes under the purview of the right to privacy, so evidence can be collected legally only by following the established procedure," the court said.
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