Phone conversations recorded without consent violate right to privacy, not admissible evidence: Chhattisgarh HC

The Chhattisgarh High Court has ruled that a mobile phone conversation recorded without consent cannot be brought into evidence. The court was ruling on a maintenance case appeal, filed under Section 125 of the Criminal Procedure Code. 

Relying on several past judgments on the right to privacy guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution, the High Court held that recording phone conversations without consent amounted to an invasion of privacy. 

In her petition, a 38-year-old woman had challenged a Family Court order from October 2021 which had allowed her 44-year-old husband, a police constable, to re-examine her on the grounds of certain conversations recorded on a mobile phone. The woman’s counsel, advocate Vaibhav Goverdhan, had argued that the order of the Family Court infringed upon her client’s right to privacy, citing previous judgements of the Supreme Court and the High Court of Madhya Pradesh. 

After listening to both sides, High Court judge Rakesh Mohan Pandey held that it appeared that the respondent had recorded the conversation of the petitioner without her knowledge, which amounted to a violation of her right to privacy guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution.

“Further, the Right of Privacy is an essential component of right to life envisaged by Article 21 of the Constitution; therefore, in the opinion of this Court, the learned Family Court has committed an error of law in allowing the application under Section 311 of the CrPC along with the certificate issued under Section 65 of the Indian Evidence Act. Accordingly, the order passed by the learned Family Court is hereby set-aside,” said the order, dated October 5.