Admissibility of audio evidence
ganesh
(Querist) 04 October 2012
This query is : Resolved
In an ongoing marital dispute case, husband makes recording of cellphone conversation through his mobile phone which is stored in the SD card of the phone and also records some statements of wife at home with a digital voice recorder which has an inbuilt memory.
As SD card of mobile/internal memory of voice recorder also contains some irrelevant recording(separate from the relevant recording made by husband), the irrelevant recording is deleted from the SD card/internal memory of voice recorder by the husband. Does it affect the authenticity of other recordings in any manner as all separate recordings in a SD card etc are saved as separate files.
ajay sethi
(Expert) 04 October 2012
other recrodings should not have been deleted . the contention of your wife would be that recordings has been tampered with .
ajay sethi
(Expert) 04 October 2012
Conditions Of Admissibility:
In Pratap Singh v. State of Punjab, AIR 1964 SC 72.
in the case of Ram Singh v. Col. Ram Singh, AIR 1986 SC 3, following conditions were pointed out by the Apex Court for admissibility of tape recorded conversation:
a) the voice of the speaker must be duly identified by the maker of the record or by others who recognize his voice. Where the maker has denied the voice it will require very strict proof to determine whether or not it was really the voice of the speaker.
b) The accuracy of the tape recorded statement has to be proved by the maker of the record by satisfactory evidence direct or circumstantial.
c) Every possibility of tempering with or erasure of a part of a tape recorded statement must be ruled out otherwise it may render the said statement out of context and, therefore, inadmissible.
d) The statement must be relevant according to the rules of Evidence Act.
e) The recorded cassette must be carefully sealed and kept in safe or official custody.
f) The voice of the speaker should be clearly audible and not lost or distorted by other sounds or disturbance.
R.K Nanda
(Expert) 04 October 2012
it indicates that recordings have been tampered.
