A husband knocked on the door of the Supreme Court against a Punjab and Haryana High Court decision which declined his request to put a phone call on recording between the couple as evidence in the ongoing divorce petition.
A Bench headed by Justice Vineet Saran has asked the respondent woman to file her reply within three weeks.
In the petition filed through advocate Ankit Swarup, the man has challenged Punjab and Haryana High Court order dated November 12 2021.
The Punjab and Haryana High Court had ordered that the Family Court is not bound by strict rules of evidence, it is at liberty to accept the CD in evidence which is a clear cut infringement of the right of privacy of the wife.
The Punjab and Haryana High Court has set aside trial court and said that acceptance of the CD by the Family Court allegedly containing conversations between the husband and wife recorded surreptitiously without the consent or knowledge of the wife and allowing the husband's application is unjustified.
The Husband has moved an application in family Court seeking permission to submit his supplementary affidavit by way of examination-in-chief along with CD and transcriptions of conversations so recorded in the memory cards/chips of the respective mobile phones.
The family Court has allowed the husband to prove the CD pertaining to the conversations between him and his wife subject to the certain condition.
The wife has challenged the order in the Punjab and Haryana court and succeed to get an order in her favour.
Aggrieved by the High Court order, the husband moves to the Supreme Court seeking to place conversation held between him and wife before the Family Court in order to prove his case of cruelty having been committed by the Respondent wife on him, and thus seek a decree of divorce based on such evidence.
"The endeavour of the Petitioner (husband) is only to prove the events and cruelty which was committed on him by the Respondent (wife). The recorded conversation held between the parties is another way of adducing evidence and recreating before the Court the events of the matrimonial home just like the evidence of oral testimony of the parties and other witnesses does," the husband stated in his petition.
"Without proving the aspect of cruelty, the Petitioner would be unsuccessful in seeking a decree of divorce from the Family Court, "the husband stated further in the petition.
The man also clarified in his petition that the production of such evidence would be subject to the test of credibility and reliability based on forensic examination and the cross-examination of the party producing such evidence.
( With inputs from ANI )
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