Is recording wife’s phone conversation without her knowledge is infringement of privacy

NEW DELHI, (PTI): The Supreme Court has agreed to examine the issue whether recording wife’s telephonic conversation without her knowledge is infringement of her privacy.

A bench of Justices Vineet Saran and B V Nagarathna issued notice on an appeal by a man challenging an order of the Punjab and Haryana high court dated December 12, 2021.

“Issue notice,” the bench said in its January 12 order.

The apex court was hearing an appeal against a single bench order of the high court on a plea filed by a woman who challenged a 2020 order of the Bathinda family court.

The Bathinda family court had allowed the woman’s estranged husband to prove a CD pertaining to recorded conversations between him and his wife subject to the condition of its correctness.

”Recording of telephonic conversation of the wife without her knowledge is a clear cut infringement of her privacy,” the high court had said.

”Furthermore, it cannot be said or ascertained as to the circumstances in which the conversations were held or the manner in which response elicited by a person, who was recording the conversations, because it is evident that these conversations would necessarily have been recorded surreptitiously by one of the parties,” it said.

The husband had submitted a petition in 2017 seeking a divorce from the woman. Their marriage was solemnised in 2009 and the couple had a daughter together. (PTI)