A spouse cannot pry on the other
Law does not permit or encourage snooping by one spouse on the other. Right to privacy is a fundamental right and it includes spousal privacy. Evidence obtained by invading the fundamental right to privacy of the spouse is inadmissible in the court, says Madras High Court in the judgement in R v B.
Husband collected call data record of the wife
In this case, the court pointed out that the husband had breached the wife’s privacy by stealthily obtaining the information pertaining to the call history of his wife.
The court pointed out that the information that was obtained without the wife’s consent would not admissible as it breached her fundamental right to privacy and laying down such a norm would prevent the spouse from surveilling the other.
Invasion of spouse’s privacy unacceptable
The court says that trust forms the bedrock of matrimonial relationships. The spouses must have implicit and total faith and confidence in each other. Snooping on the other destroys the fabric of marital life. One cannot pry on the other. It is beyond dispute that women have their own autonomy. Their private space should not be invaded.
Brief facts in this case
In this case, the husband had filed the petition for dissolution of marriage on the grounds of cruelty, adultery and desertion on wife’s part. The husband marked the call data record of the wife and the wife filed an application for rejecting the call record data which was dismissed by the sub-judge. The issue then came up before the Madras High Court through the civil revision petition and the judgement is in that petition.
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