Normally, if you desire to use voice recording to prove your evidence in the court in India, you have to follow laws & regulations with your local attorney.
In this article, we are going to guide how to prove voice recording as evidence in court in India with the legal techniques and explain about laws & regulations in India as well.
Contents
Voice Recording Laws & consent by State to use in court in india
can voice recording be used as evidence in court in india ?
is voice recording without consent illegal in india ?
How to record conversations to be used as evidence in the court in india ?
Voice Recording Laws & consent by State to use in court in india
In India, there is no law specifying about using voice recording in court whether One-party consent or Two-party consent is required. However, several laws can be used as a guideline.
Indian Law does not state it is illegal to record conversations or phone conversations that you take part in without seeking consent from all parties to the conversation.
But you must be careful how you use the recordings and what type of information is contained in the recordings as the other party may claim a violation of privacy.
If you use the recordings from your calls and conversations for defamation or blackmail may expose you to trouble.
can voice recording be used as evidence in court in india ?
According to Section 3, 65A and 65B of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872, recorded conversations submitted to the court are admissible as evidence.
However, the court requires certain conditions to be met before the recording is considered as evidence. These include the following requirements :
1. The voice should be recognizable.
2. The speakers must be identified – Make sure you are in the conversation with harasser who is harassing you.
3. The recording should not be interfered with before the presentation.
4. The recording should be relevant to the case.
5. The voice in the recording should be clear without any disturbance.
6. The voice recording should not be edited or modified before submitted to the court
7. The storage device containing the recording should be kept sealed in safeguard
8. Date & Time Stamp are the vital key to weigh more your evidence
is voice recording without consent illegal in india ?
Even though voice recording is admissible by the court, there are some serious illegal activities that are prohibited by the laws.
This is considered a violation of Privacy which is guaranteed under Article 21 of the Indian Constitution which addresses the protection of life and personal liberty.
Example of illegal actions :
1. Place surveillance devices in the private property without granting permission from the owner.
2. Record the conversation or activity while you are not in the associated party.
For example, when Mr.A & Mr.B are having the conversation, you secretly record them without joining their conversation, this activity is considered as not getting any consents from any parties, which means your recording will be considered as illegal activity and cannot be used in the court ( it’s can be used unless it refers to the serious criminal ) .
How to record conversations to be used as evidence in the court in india ?
It can be used as evidence unless you are in the conversation no matter receiving consent or not.
We provide you 2 examples of legal & illegal techniques of recording the conversation :
Legal Technique
In a case, R M Malkani vs. State of Maharashtra, involving a conversation between an appellant and witness which was recorded by the witness, the Supreme Court ruled that a witness can record a phone conversation with the accused and the recording will be considered admissible in court.
But cannot be used as evidence if you are recording the conversations of others without involvement.
In short, you have to be involved in the conversation to obtain the recording evidence legally.
Illegal Technique
In a case, Rayala M. Bhuvaneswari vs Nagaphanender Rayala, between a husband and wife, the Supreme Court ruled that the act of the husband taping his wife’s conversation with others amounted to a violation of the right to privacy.
Which means the court ruled out the voice recording as evidence due to the privacy invasion because he is not involving in the conversation & taping his wife’s conversation in the private area.
Notes : The court will accept the voice recording evidence , if you are in part of the conversation
But you have no right to place the voice recorder or any listening devices in other personal space that not owned by you.
To be safe you have to record the conversation in which you are involved.
Audio recording requirements to be approved by the court
These are crucial reuqirements to weigh more your evidence & statement in the court.
1. Date & Time Stamp – To support the event with actual date & time, date & time are part of the supportive pieces to weigh more your evidence.
2. The speakers must be identified – To make sure you are in the conversation with harasser who is harassing you. Secretly recording without joining the conversation will automatically be illegal & fail to use the voice recording in court too.
3. Authenticate that the recording has not been edited or modified because due to the rise of blackmail cases, some people are using the advantage of editing skill to modify and create fake evidence to blackmail others.
The court has to be strict about the authenticity of the evidence.
4. Voice should be clear and without any disturbance. Even if it has a little bit of disturbance, the court still admiss the voice recording as the evidence if it obtains legally but disturbance can cause inefficiency to support the evidence.
conclusion
You cannot place covert audio or any listening device in other private space due to privacy invasion but you can place it in your area if you have fully ownership for security concern purpose.
If you get harassed or requested for unlawful activities such us threats of bodily harm, extortion, fraud or blackmail during the conversation, you are freely to record without any getting the consent and the evidences can will be considered by the court, if the evidences have the proof of authenticity such as voices & contents of the conversation, the court will accept voice recording as the evidences.
Reminder : You have to be involved in the conversation too.
Explore our solutions
You can explore our secretly voice recording to capture the real-time evidence without manually press the record button because we have come up with “Voice Activated” features, when the sound is captured the recording will start automatically.
More Outstanding Features :
1. Voice Activated
2. Long life battery
3. Prioritize human voice
4. Able to capture the evidence upto 30 – 50 feets depending on choosing model
5. Date & Time Stamp – Good feature to prove & weigh your evidence in the court
If you have any questions about our product, you can discover our Covert Audio FAQ or get in touch.
