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Madras High Court Quashes 2011 Phone Tapping Order, Restricts Covert Surveillance

The ruling held that the 2011 order violated Article 21 of the Constitution by authorizing covert phone surveillance beyond the statute’s limited scope.

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File Photo: IANS
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Overview

  • Justice N. Anand Venkatesh set aside the Union Home Affairs’ 2011 authorization as ultra vires Section 5(2) of the Indian Telegraph Act and beyond the procedural safeguards of Rule 419A.
  • The court reaffirmed that intercepting telephonic conversations for covert crime detection infringes the fundamental right to privacy guaranteed under Article 21.
  • All conversations intercepted under the impugned order must be disregarded, while evidence collected independently of those intercepts remains admissible.
  • By relying on PUCL (1997) and Puttaswamy (2017) precedents, the judgment underscored the need for explicit legislative authority, judicial oversight and fair procedure for lawful interception.
  • The decision clarifies that phone tapping is confined to situations of public emergency or public safety, excluding its use in secretive investigations of ordinary crimes.