Can call recordings be used as evidence in court of law?
The Hon’ble Supreme Court in K.K. Velusamy vs. N. Palanisamy, (2011) 11 S.C.C. 275, considered about the telephonic conversation recording and came to a conclusion that a disc containing recording of telephonic conversation could be a valid evidence according to Section 3 of the Evidence Act and Section 2 (t) of the IT Act.
The Apex Court has observed that electronically recorded conversation is admissible in evidence, if the conversation is relevant to the matter in issue and the voice is identified and the accuracy of the recorded conversation is proved by eliminating the possibility of erasure, addition or manipulation. The relevant para of the judgement is reproduced as under:
- The amended definition of “evidence” in section 3 of the Evidence Act, 1872 read with the definition of “electronic record” in section 2(t) of the Information Technology Act 2000, includes a compact disc containing an electronic record of a conversation. Section 8 of Evidence Act provides that the conduct of any party, or of any agent to any party, to any suit, in reference to such suit, or in reference to any fact in issue therein or relevant thereto, is relevant, if such conduct influences or is influenced by any fact in issue or relevant fact, and whether it was previous or subsequent thereto.
In R.M Malkani v. State of Maharashtra, AIR 1973 SC 157, this court made it clear that electronically recorded conversation is admissible in evidence, if the conversation is relevant to the matter in issue and the voice is identified and the accuracy of the recorded conversation is proved by eliminating the possibility of erasure, addition or manipulation. This Court further held that a contemporaneous electronic recording of a relevant conversation is a relevant fact comparable to a photograph of a relevant incident and is admissible as evidence under Section 8 of the Act. There is therefore no doubt that such an electronic record can be received as evidence.