The Supreme Court has refused to interfere with a Delhi High Court order allowing a woman to obtain her husband's hotel records and call detail records to support allegations of adultery in ongoing divorce proceedings. A bench of Justices Manmohan and K Vinod Chandran dismissed the husband's appeal and said no interference was required with the findings of the Family Court and the High Court.

The case arose from a divorce petition filed by the wife, who accused her husband of cruelty and adultery. She alleged that he had stayed at the Fairmont Hotel in Jaipur with another woman in April 2022. The woman initially sought the preservation of CCTV footage from the hotel, but the recordings had already been erased by the time she approached the court because of the hotel's data retention policy.

The wife subsequently approached the Family Court seeking booking records from the hotel, identification documents of the room occupants and details of payments made for the stay. She also requested her husband's call detail records for the relevant period. The Family Court allowed the request and directed that the documents be produced before it in a sealed cover to protect the sensitive information involved.

Also Read: Swiggy’s Food On Train Service Reports Higher Q1 Demand For Refreshments

The husband challenged the Family Court's decision before the Delhi High Court, arguing that disclosure of the records would violate his fundamental right to privacy. The High Court rejected his plea, observing that the wife was seeking evidence she reasonably believed could support her allegation of adultery. The court noted that adultery, by its nature, is generally established through surrounding circumstances rather than direct evidence.

The High Court further held that courts may intervene when a spouse seeks relevant evidence that could help establish allegations of adultery. It said such an approach was consistent with the powers granted to Family Courts under the law. The Supreme Court's decision not to interfere has left the High Court's ruling in place, with the records to be examined under safeguards including sealed-cover proceedings.

The order follows another Supreme Court ruling delivered last year concerning evidence in matrimonial disputes. In that case, a bench of Justices BV Nagarathna and Satish Chandra Sharma held that secretly recorded conversations between spouses could be admitted as evidence in divorce and other matrimonial proceedings. The ruling allowed such recordings despite protections relating to spousal communications under Section 122 of the Indian Evidence Act.

Also Read: Persian Gulf Crisis Leaves Thousands Of Seafarers Stranded Amid UN Concerns