Chhattisgarh High Court allows husband to use call recordings, WhatsApp chats as evidence in divorce case

The Chhattisgarh High Court recently upheld a family court’s decision to allow call recordings and WhatsApp chats produced by a husband as evidence in a divorce case.

Justice Sachin Singh Rajput observed that Section 14 of the Family Courts Act provides for an exception to the general rule regarding admissibility of any evidence and allows family court to consider such evidence which is necessary to effectively deal with a dispute.

The Court added that the provision would be rendered nugatory if any such evidence is excluded based on an objection founded on breach of privacy.

“It is easily foreseeable therefore, that in most cases that come before the Family Court, the evidence sought to be marshaled would relate to the private affairs of the litigating parties. If Section 14 is held not to apply in its full expanse to evidence that impinges on a person's right to privacy, then not only of Section 14 but the very object of constitution of Family Courts may be rendered meaningless. Therefore, the test of admissibility would only be the relevance,” the Bench further said.

The judgment was delivered on February 11 on the wife’s appeal challenging the family court order allowing the application moved by her husband to bring on record the audio conversation and WhatsApp chats.

She alleged that the evidence was brought on record by her husband after hacking her mobile phone. His actions breached invaded her right to privacy, the Court was told.

However, the Bench said that though the right to privacy has been recognized as a fundamental right, the same is not absolute and is subject to exceptions and limitations and reasonable restrictions.

“The litigating party certainly has a right to privacy but that right must yield to the right of an opposing party to bring evidence it considers relevant to court, to prove its case. It is a settled concept of fair trial that a litigating party gets a fair chance to bring relevant evidence before a Court of law,” it added.

Thus, the Court dismissed the appeal. 

Advocates Hemant Kesharwani and Swapnil Keshari represented the wife.

Advocate BP Sharma and Pushp Gupta represented the husband.

[Read Judgment]