• Conversation recorded on phone as evidence in court

I have recorded some abusive behavior of my inlaws using the record option in my phone. (The conversation took place in person and is not a phone call). Is this admissible as evidence in court. Should I transfer it to a CD and submit in court? Should I separately prove its authenticity ie its not tampered and the voice is of my inlaws etc. How do I prove this
Asked 7 years ago in Family Law
Religion: Hindu

First answer received in 10 minutes.

Lawyers are available now to answer your questions.

6 Answers

1. Since it is a voice recording and not a recorded telephonic conversation it will be admissible in evidence but its evidentiary value will be very weak.

2. Your in-laws can seek the forensic test of the voice conversation.

3. The onus to prove that the recording is tampered is on the individual who claims it is tampered.

Ashish Davessar
Advocate, Jaipur
30763 Answers
972 Consultations

5.0 on 5.0

1) audio recordings are admissible in evidence

2) you have to prepare transcripts of the conversation and enclose it in your petition filed in court

3) it has to be proved that voice is of your in laws and it has not been tampered with

4) it would have to be referred to forensic lab in case in laws dispute genuineess of the audio recordings

Ajay Sethi
Advocate, Mumbai
94520 Answers
7485 Consultations

5.0 on 5.0

Dear Sir.......

The record options is the admissible facts ...it depends on the court ..that they accept it or not...you can move the seperate application for submitting the facts in the court of law..

Best Regards

Mob-No-[deleted]

Feroz Shaikh
Advocate, Navi Mumbai
407 Answers
58 Consultations

4.4 on 5.0

1. Do note that audio tape is though permissible the procedure involved therein is so complicated it's almost impossible to rely upon.

2. The audio tape to be admissible is to be sent for authentication to FSL. Moreover the sample voice of the concerned person is to tally with the person alleged to be in the audio tape which he refuse to give.

3. Hence focus on oral evidence of witnesses.

Devajyoti Barman
Advocate, Kolkata
22779 Answers
484 Consultations

5.0 on 5.0

Hi

Since the conversation is in person and you have used the phone as a recording media,it is perfectly accepted evidence under section 65B of indian evidence act.

The next steps are

a) Keep a copy of the recording in CD by transferring the content from Phone to a CD

Many people attempt to transfer the contents directly to CD and in the process end up in committing mistakes and end up with the courts dismissing the evidence in CD format.

So it is highly recommended that you approach the any of the following forensic labs for transferring the contents of the audio recording from Phone to CD .

a) Truth Labs, Flat # 19, Dev Apartments, 1st Main Road, Kasturba Nagar, Adyar, Chennai - 600 020.(www.truthlabs.org)

OR

b) Forensic Science Department/Forensic Laboratory, 30 A Forensic House, Kamarajar Salai, Mylapore, Chennai - 600004

These forensic labs will help you download the content safely and securely in accordance to law and they will also issue certificate on request with date and time stamp of recording on it .

Both of these above forensic labs are approved by Government of India and Tamil nadu and their certificate is valid in all courts including the supreme court.

These institutions will charge anywhere between Rs1000 to Rs1200 for their services but will ensure a safe, secure and authenticated data transfer.

Hope this information is useful.

Rajgopalan Sripathi
Advocate, Hyderabad
2173 Answers
394 Consultations

5.0 on 5.0

In the Indian Evidence act, Section 65A & 65B were inserted to incorporate the admissibility of electronic evidence.

The main objective to introduce the specific provision has its origin to the technical nature of the evidence particularly as the evidence in the electronic form cannot be produced in the court of law owing to the size of computer/server, residing in the machine language and thus, requiring the interpreter to read the same. The Section 65B of the Evidence Act makes the secondary copy in the form of computer output comprising of printout or the data copied on electronic/magnetic media

The provisions of the section section referred is:

Sec. 65B(1): Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, any information contained in an electronic record -

which is printed on a paper, stored, recorded or

copied in optical or magnetic media

produced by a computer

shall be deemed to be also a document, if the conditions mentioned in this section are satisfied

in relation to the information and

computer in question and

shall be admissible in any proceedings, without further proof or production of the original,

as evidence of any contents of the original or of any fact stated therein of which direct evidence would be admissible.

You can confirm the evidence in your possession to suit to the provisions of law in this regard for its admissibility before court.

T Kalaiselvan
Advocate, Vellore
84711 Answers
2172 Consultations

5.0 on 5.0

Ask a Lawyer

Get legal answers from lawyers in 1 hour. It's quick, easy, and anonymous!
  Ask a lawyer