Overview

• A bench of Justices BV Nagarathna and Satish Chandra Sharma overturned the Punjab and Haryana High Court’s 2021 privacy ban and restored the Bathinda Family Court’s 2020 order admitting clandestine spousal recordings.
• The court held that the exception in Section 122 of the Indian Evidence Act aligns with Article 21’s fair-trial guarantee, enabling admission of private marital communications in divorce disputes.
• Justices observed that spouses’ secret recordings signal a breakdown of trust and are therefore probative of cruelty allegations under Section 13 of the Hindu Marriage Act.
• The Supreme Court directed the Bathinda Family Court to authenticate the CD and memory cards of recorded calls and proceed with evidence evaluation in the divorce proceedings.
• By restoring trial court discretion, the verdict sets a nationwide precedent for admitting electronic evidence in family law cases while balancing privacy and proof.