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 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.