The Supreme Court has affirmed the Delhi High Court’s decision that a wife may request the court’s help to obtain evidence, including her husband’s call detail records (CDRs) and hotel booking information, in order to support her allegation of adultery against him.
Justice Manmohan and Justice K. Vinod Chandran rejected the husband’s appeal, refusing to disturb the consistent findings of the Family Court and the High Court concerning the submission of hotel records and call detail records for the Family Court’s consideration.
The High Court ruled that the right to privacy is not absolute and must be weighed against a spouse’s right to substantiate claims in matrimonial proceedings.
Because the wife lacked any other effective way to prove her allegation of adultery, the court affirmed the Family Court’s order to call for the husband’s hotel records and call detail records in a sealed cover, thereby safeguarding confidentiality while allowing the case to be properly adjudicated.
“I am therefore of the considered view that when in a case like the present, when a wife seeks the help of the Court for procuring evidence which would go a long way to prove adultery on the part of her husband, the Court must step in; this would be in consonance with Section 14 of the Family Courts Act which gives a leeway to the Court to consider evidence which may be not admissible or relevant under the Indian Evidence Act.”Delhi High Court