NEW DELHI: Right to privacy under Article 21 of the Constitution cannot be used as a shield to deny the spouse access to mobile call records and details of stay in a hotel to prove adultery, Supreme Court said on Friday as it rejected the plea of a man who alleged that disclosure of such information in court is violative of his fundamental right.A bench of Justices Manmohan and K Vinod Chandran upheld the order of Delhi high court, which ruled that right to privacy was not absolute and is subject to certain reasonable restrictions in cases where public interests are involved. HC relied on a constitution bench order of the apex court, which said the freedom to have a consensual sexual relationship outside marriage does not warrant protection under Article 21 of the Constitution.
HC: Right to privacy is subject to reasonable curbs in public interest
This right of privacy under Article 21 of the Constitution of India has to be necessarily subject to reasonable restrictions, especially when the restrictions are in public interest. The Hindu Marriage Act specifically recognises adultery as a ground for divorce and, therefore, it would not at all be in public interest that the court should, on the ground of right to privacy, come to the aid of a married man who, during the subsistence of his marriage, is alleged to have indulged in sexual relationships outside his marriage,” the high court held while approving the order of the family court, which directed furnishing of reservation details of his hotel stay and call detail records.The husband thereafter moved SC, which did not find any error in the verdict and dismissed his appeal. In this case, the couple got married in 1998 and had a daughter in 2000. The wife found that the man had an extramarital relationship and had stayed with another woman at a hotel in Jaipur. She thereafter filed a case against him and sought divorce.