The Chhattisgarh High Court has reaffirmed that the right to privacy, though fundamental, is not absolute, holding that relevant call recordings and WhatsApp chats can be admitted as evidence in matrimonial proceedings.

In a judgment delivered on February 11, Justice Sachin Singh Rajput dismissed a wife’s appeal challenging a family court order that permitted her husband to place on record certain audio conversations and WhatsApp messages in a pending divorce case.

The wife had alleged that the material was obtained by hacking her mobile phone and therefore amounted to a serious breach of her privacy. She argued that such evidence should not be entertained by the court as it violated her fundamental rights.

However, the Chhattisgarh High Court relied on Section 14 of the Family Courts Act, which grants Family Courts wider latitude in receiving evidence compared to traditional civil courts. The provision enables Family Courts to consider any material that may assist in effectively resolving a dispute, even if such material may not strictly conform to the technical rules of evidence.

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The Bench observed that disputes before Family Courts often revolve around private relationships and personal communications. If evidence touching upon private affairs were to be excluded solely on the ground of privacy, the very objective behind the creation of Family Courts would be undermined.

Emphasizing the balance between competing rights, the Court stated that while a litigant has a right to privacy, that right must sometimes yield to the opposing party’s right to present relevant evidence and secure a fair trial. The determinative factor for admissibility under Section 14, the Court clarified, is relevance.

With these observations, the Chhattisgarh High Court upheld the family court’s order and dismissed the appeal.