The Supreme Court on Monday, July 14, 2025, ruled that secretly recorded telephonic conversations between spouses are admissible evidence in matrimonial cases .

A bench of Justices B.V. Nagarathna and Satish Chandra Sharma overturned a Punjab & Haryana High Court ruling that deemed such recordings a privacy violation, saying Section 122 of the Evidence Act provides an exception in legal disputes between spouses. The Court highlighted that snooping itself reflects a marriage's breakdown, stating: “If the marriage has reached a stage where spouses are actively snooping on each other, that is in itself a symptom of a broken relationship”.

Acknowledging privacy rights under Article 21, the Court said they aren’t absolute and must be balanced against the right to a fair trial.

The decision allows family courts to consider covert recordings in divorce or cruelty cases, setting a new precedent in family law while sidelining concerns that it could encourage marital spying.