• Eavesdropping of wife in adultery with 3rd person outside marriage

My wife has been having a emotional affair with a male outside marriage for last 15 years. When I suspected this ,I recorded her conversation with another mobile instrument by keeping it in recording mode at home, without her knowledge & finally our marriage is on the verge of breaking due to her infidelity. Now she is threatening to go for a legal case for my eaves dropping. She is not earning and she lived on me and she was just a house wife. I need clarification if eaves dropping to prove the infidelity when she is eating my food but has back stabbed me , is illegal and what are the consequences.
Regards
Asked 4 years ago in Family Law
Religion: Hindu

First answer received in 10 minutes.

Lawyers are available now to answer your questions.

19 Answers

You can rely upon audio recordings to prove adultery by wife in divorce case 

 

2) file for divorce on grounds of mental cruelty and adultery 

 

3) wife guilty of adultery is not entitled to any maintenance 

 

4) she can file police complaint against you for infringement of her privacy 

Ajay Sethi
Advocate, Mumbai
94720 Answers
7532 Consultations

5.0 on 5.0

Between husband and wife no fiduciary relationship exist. There can not be any invasion of privacy of either in normal daily life matters,  by any act of other , unless something for any special reason is expressly agreed by both to this effect. 

Do not make such recordings public but to use it as evidence in court. 

 

Kallol Majumdar
Advocate, Kolkata
2837 Answers
14 Consultations

5.0 on 5.0

File for divorce on grounds of mental cruelty and adultery 

 

contact a local lawyer 

Ajay Sethi
Advocate, Mumbai
94720 Answers
7532 Consultations

5.0 on 5.0

1. Well eavesdropping is a breach of civil liberty of a person and for doing this no crime is committed as yet.

2. Since by this means you can bring her infidelity to court , reliance can be made on this tape in the court of law.

3. So there is  nothing to worry and file the suit for divorce on the basis of these evidences.

4. it is essential to file the suit for divorce first before she takes any reprisal steps in court.

Devajyoti Barman
Advocate, Kolkata
22824 Answers
488 Consultations

5.0 on 5.0

Eavesdropping is the act of secretly or stealthily listening to the private conversation or communications of others without their consent. The practice is widely regarded as unethical, and in many jurisdictions is illegal.

If, the telephonic conversation is recorded by a third party without consent of participants. It is illegal, as it infringes Right to privacy. ( PUCL v. Union of India, 1997, AIR1997SC568 in this regard said that telephonic conversations are an important part of a person's private life, and people do have a right to hold private conversations in the privacy of their homes or offices.).

Eavesdropping is not the solution for this.

In fact you cannot prove her acts of infidelity or extramarital affairs by just producing such evidences, these evidences are not admissible as primary evidence by court of law.

You can file a divorce case on the grounds of cruelty by citing this also as one of the reasons for which you dont have to produce the documentary evidences.

 

T Kalaiselvan
Advocate, Vellore
84921 Answers
2195 Consultations

5.0 on 5.0

If she is threatening you with legal consequences, ask her to go ahead because you have done this to secure evidence about her extra marital affairs or her adulterous life. 

In fact if you want to use this evidence to support your claim or establish your allegations against her then you may adopt the procedures as laid down in section 65B of Indian Evidence act. 

 It is legal, although the evidence has been obtained involuntarily it can be still treated as a credible piece of evidence as per Section 65B of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872.
 However, the person against whom such an evidence is being used has to be given an opportunity to contest the nature and contents of a recorded conversation.
The most common strategy adopted against such evidence is analysis of voice pattern.
The person against whom such evidence is given can ask for matching the voice pattern in the recorded call with his voice sample.
Furthermore, in order to match the 2 samples, the court can seek an opinion from the ‘Experts in this field’ by exercising the power under Section 45 in The Indian Evidence Act, 1872. Thereafter, based on the report submitted by the ‘experts’, the court can weigh the evidence presented before it, in order to arrive at a conclusion.

There have been instances and allegations of presenting doctored or tampered evidence of electronic nature during lawsuits in order to falsely implicate a person.
Hence, the evidence submitted under Section 65B of the Indian Evidence Act is subject to further examination under Section 45 of the Indian Evidence Act in order to establish the guilt ‘beyond reasonable doubt’.

T Kalaiselvan
Advocate, Vellore
84921 Answers
2195 Consultations

5.0 on 5.0

No such case maintainable and evidence procured by illegal means admissible in court. Her infidelity is proven, you can obtain divorce and refuse alimony also. No case made out agasint you.

Yogendra Singh Rajawat
Advocate, Jaipur
22636 Answers
31 Consultations

4.4 on 5.0

see to be honest get it straight, adultery is more a crime as stated by apex court but yes its cruelty which can lead to divorce, on the other hand adultery needs to be proved properly just by filing a case things wont suffice your need but one thing will happen, that is your case will go on for years and you get no relief. If adultery proved properly yes your wife will not get a single penny from you but if you fail to prove it, i can assure you , you have to pay a huge amount in form of alimony, detailed discussion is necessary, proper planning is very important

Aveek Bose
Advocate, Kolkata
1222 Answers
9 Consultations

4.7 on 5.0

Let her file a case if she files the same you can file divorce. It's actually invading her privacy as to record her calls without her consent and sometimes the court doesn't admit such evidence

Prashant Nayak
Advocate, Mumbai
31951 Answers
179 Consultations

4.1 on 5.0

Dear Sir,

As of now, there is no mechanism which can warn people that their phone conversation is being recorded. Even the cyber laws in India do not offer clarity in such a scenario. ... There is no law which makes recording a call by an individual on their device illegal.

Netravathi Kalaskar
Advocate, Bengaluru
4952 Answers
27 Consultations

4.8 on 5.0

Yes it is perfectly legal and she is your wife so you have a complete right over her.

Regards 

Rahul Mishra
Advocate, Lucknow
14088 Answers
65 Consultations

5.0 on 5.0

Even if she has them sge can't do anything. She will not get maintenance you can get divorced easily and she would be entitled to nothing.

Rahul Mishra
Advocate, Lucknow
14088 Answers
65 Consultations

5.0 on 5.0

1. Recording any conversation which has taken place in your house through another device is not at all illegal.

 

2. What type of conversation he had with the third person is important to consider whether she ran an adulterous relationship or not.

 

3. However, please note that Adultery (which mainly includes physical relationship) is no longer treated as an offence under IPC as per our Supreme Court.

 

4. If physical relationship established by her out of the wedlock is proved, then you can file divorce suit on the ground of cruelty.

Krishna Kishore Ganguly
Advocate, Kolkata
27219 Answers
726 Consultations

5.0 on 5.0

1. Settle the dispute amicably since divorce is the 2nd most stressful event in one's life.

 

2. No case stands against you legally for recording the happenings in your house through another device and without putting any spyware in her phone.

 

3. It appears that you also can not file a divorce suit terming her said association/conversation with the third party as an act of adultery, hence cruelty.

Krishna Kishore Ganguly
Advocate, Kolkata
27219 Answers
726 Consultations

5.0 on 5.0

1. No case is made out against you. To collect evidence of the adultery of spouse is not an offence.

2, You are free to avail your legal remedies against her.

Ashish Davessar
Advocate, Jaipur
30763 Answers
972 Consultations

5.0 on 5.0

Yes, she can lodge police complaint against you. 

You have to file case for divorce under cruelty and adultery relying on the recorded conversation of your wife.

If you can prove her infidelity, she will not be eligible for maintenance.

 

S Srinivasa Prasad
Advocate, Hyderabad
2876 Answers
9 Consultations

5.0 on 5.0

As per your submission above you have enough evidence so as to implicate your wife and her lover and the court shall grant you divorce on ground of adultery. 

 

Mohammed Mujeeb
Advocate, Hyderabad
19299 Answers
32 Consultations

4.7 on 5.0

As per section 13(1) of the Hindu marriage act, adultery is a ground for divorce. So yes, you can file divorce on the gounds of adultery by using those spy call recordings. Recording wife calls is not a crime if husband suspects wife of infidelity.

Mohammed Mujeeb
Advocate, Hyderabad
19299 Answers
32 Consultations

4.7 on 5.0

The case of eavesdropping will not be madeout against you if your wife is in adulterous relation with another male. 

You can file divorce case against your wife but you need proof that she is having physical relationship with that person.

Mohit Kapoor
Advocate, Rohtak
10687 Answers
7 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