Recording phone calls without wife’s knowledge is a breach of privacy: Court

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• Dec 14, 2021 | Deleted

Digital Desk: Recording the wife’s telephonic conversation without her knowledge is an infringement of her privacy, said the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

The single bench of justice Leela Gill also ruled that telephonic chat surreptitiously recorded could not be produced before a court of law for deciding divorce petitions.

Justice Lisa Gill passed the order last month on a plea filed by a woman who challenged a 2020 order of the Bathinda family court.

The Bathinda family court allowed the husband of the petitioner woman to produce evidence of the recorded CD of the conversation between him and the wife, provided if it is true.

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The High Court remarked, “The recording of the conversation without the wife’s knowledge is a clear breach of her privacy.”

“It cannot be said or assessed as to the circumstances under which the conversation took place or how the person recording the conversation responded as it is clear that the conversation must have been secretly recorded from the other party,” the High court said.

In this case, the husband had filed for divorce from the woman in the year 2017 at Bathinda family court. They got married in the year 2009 and the couple has a daughter.

During the cross-examination, in July 2019, the husband applied to the family court to submit the recording of the mobile phone conversation along with the supplementary affidavit, which the court approved in 2020. After that, the wife approached the High court.

The lawyer for the wife argued that the evidence sought to be led by the husband is completely beyond pleadings, therefore, absolutely impermissible. It was contended that the pleadings do not refer to any such conversations sought to be proven.