Madras HC says Indian law does not permit phone tapping for secret crime probes, strikes down Home Ministry's tap order

In a significant verdict delivered on Wednesday, the Madras High Court quashed a 2011 phone-tapping order issued by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), and declared that the surveillance violated the right to privacy guaranteed under Article 21 of the Indian Constitution.

- BY S VENKAT NARAYAN

In his judgement, Justice N Anand Venkatesh observed that “the law, as it stands today, does not permit the tapping of telephonic conversations or messages for the purpose of covert operations or secretive situations aimed at the detection of crimes.”

In the 94-page order, the court added that “phone tapping, as such, constitutes a violation of the right to privacy of an individual, unless it was justified by a procedure established by law.”

The case concerned petitioner P Kishore, former managing director of Everonn Education Ltd., who challenged the MHA’s order dated August 12, 2011, which had authorised the interception of his mobile phone under Section 5(2) of the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885 and Rule 419-A of the Indian Telegraph Rules, 1951.

The surveillance was ordered in connection with a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) investigation involving an alleged INR50-lakh bribe to a senior Income Tax official.