Phone recording, even made illegally, permissible evidence, says Allahabad High Court

The Lucknow bench of Allahabad High Court has held that recorded phone conversation is an admissible piece of evidence and it cannot be discarded even if obtained illegally.

"The communication between the mobile phones of two accused persons when recorded on a digital voice recorder after putting the call on speaker, will not amount to interception," the bench said on Wednesday.

A bench of justice Subhash Vidyarthi made the observation, passing an order on a revision plea moved by Mahant Prasad Ram Tripathi, a former CEO of Fatehgarh Cantonment Board.

The petitioner had approached the HC against the trial court's order which rejected his discharge application seeking clean chit in a bribery case.

The petitioner had challenged the proceedings of trial court on the ground that the entire case was based on the recording of phone conversation which was obtained in an illegal manner and as such since this evidence cannot be admissible, the proceedings before the trial court was a futile exercise.

Rejecting the petitioner's revision plea, the bench observed, "Whether the telephonic conversation between the two accused persons was intercepted or not and whether it was done legally or not, would not affect the admissibility of the recorded conversation in evidence against the petitioner."

"The law is clear that an evidence cannot be refused to be admitted by the court on the ground that it had been obtained illegally," the bench said.

The petitioner was accused of demanding Rs 1.65 lakh in bribe through Shashi Mohan, a member of the Board.

The CBI had recorded a telephonic conversation between the two accused on a digital voice recorder, after one of accused put the phone on speaker.