Phone calls without consent violate both the right to privacy and the petitioner's right provided by Article 21 of the Constitution...
Digital Desk: The Chhattisgarh High Court today ruled that recording a person's mobile phone call without the person's consent violates the right to privacy under Article 21 and quashed a family court ruling.
The high court was hearing a petition filed by a woman appealing a family court judgement permitting her husband's plea in a maintenance matter that had been pending since 2019. The woman had applied to the Mahasamund district family court for a grant of maintenance from her husband.
The HC stated that the husband recording his wife's phone call without her knowledge violates both her right to privacy and the petitioner's right provided under Article 21 of the constitution.
The husband petitioned the family court for a re-examination of his wife because a certain discussion was recorded on the mobile phone, and he wishes to cross-examine the petitioner and confront her with the conversation recorded on the mobile phone.
The family court granted the man's motion in an order dated October 21, 2021, and the lady appealed to the High Court in 2022, according to her lawyer Vaibhav A. Goverdhan.
According to the husband, he was attempting to prove to the family court via mobile chat that his wife was engaging in adultery and thus he would not have to pay maintenance to her once they split.
During the hearing in the HC, the woman's counsel argued that the family court made a legal error by granting the application because it violated the petitioner's right to privacy, and the conversation was recorded by her husband without her knowledge and cannot be used against her.
He cited decisions from the Supreme Court and the Madhya Pradesh High Court. On October 5, High Court Justice Rakesh Mohan Pandey overturned the family court's decision.
"It appears that the respondent (husband) has recorded the conversation of the petitioner (wife) without her knowledge behind her back which amounts to the violation of her right to privacy and also the right of the petitioner guaranteed under article 21 of the constitution of India," the court said.
"Furthermore, the right to privacy is an essential component of the right to life envisaged by article 21, and thus, in the opinion of this court, the learned family court made a legal error in allowing the application under section 311 of the CrPC along with the certificate issued under section 65 of the Indian Evidence Act." As a result, the learned family court's order is hereby reversed," it added.
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