High Court asks woman to give voice sample to verify husband's claim about affair

Mumbai: The Aurangabad bench of the Bombay High Court has directed a woman to give her voice sample to verify her estranged husband's claim about an extra-marital affair, saying with the advent of technology, electronic evidence is replacing the conventional one.

A bench of Justice Shailesh Brahme, in the order passed on May 9, said under the Domestic Violence Act, there are no provisions to direct a party to provide voice samples, but the proceedings in the present case are both quasi-civil and quasi-criminal.

The order was passed on a man's plea seeking a direction to his estranged wife to give her voice sample to be referred to a forensic laboratory for verification of voice recordings he submitted in the matrimonial dispute to prove that she was having an extra-marital affair.

The court said the woman was bound to give her voice sample for verification, as the electronic evidence relied upon by the man has a probative value.

It also refused to accept the woman's argument that the memory card and CD her estranged husband submitted were not admissible in evidence, as the original cell phone in which the alleged voice recording was done was unavailable.

Justice Brahme said all this can be considered by the trial court.

"Due to the advent of technology, electronic evidence is replacing conventional evidence, and hence, there is a need to invest more powers to a magistrate who is a fact-finding authority," the court said.

The court further held that in proceedings under the Domestic Violence Act, the parties are not informant and accused in the sense of criminal jurisprudence, as they are in a domestic relationship.

The woman had filed a complaint before a family court against her husband and in-laws, alleging harassment under the provisions of the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act.

The man, in his defence, submitted a memory card and CD to the family court with voice recordings of his wife and her alleged paramour.

The woman refuted the allegations and said it was not her voice in the recordings.

He filed an application before a magistrate's court at Parner in Ahilyanagar district seeking a direction to his wife to give her voice sample. The magistrate rejected the application, after which he moved the HC.

The high court quashed the magistrate court's February 2024 order and directed the woman to give her voice sample within three weeks.

It said the sample shall be referred to the forensic laboratory for verification.