Is accessing spouse's email account an offense/illegal?

Why you are answering like this?  If you dont know the correct answer  why you are bluffing. 

@ Mr. Isaac Gabriel, it could be used as a evidence for what? proof of cruelty ? This mistake was done after my wife left me , how could this be cruelty? According to me , it could be an offense based on some cyber law but certainly not a ground for divorce.

@ all , Thanks for pressing the panic button :). Can someone throw in some light about the legal implications?

Thanks.

I found the answer to my question after acquainting myself a bit to  IT legislation in India.  For the benefit of the members of this forum I would like to share the information that I found.  Check out the link below which gives a clear idea of the IT Act, offences and penalties under the IT ACT of Indian legislation for Sections 43, 65,66, 67 and 69. 

https://www.slideshare.net/NIIConsulting/it-act-2000-penalties-offences-with-case-studies#

Now I can turn off my panic button and confidently face the case :)

Note: Just type in or copy and paste the link in the browser if it does not work by clicking

Thanks.

If what you say is correct that with the help of the knowledge of her password details available with you, you were able to check her mails, especially sent by you or even going further abut knowing her cyber activities, in my opinion,  it does not seems to be an offence, even it is not a violation of her privacy as per law hence there is nothing wrong even if she resorts to use the same as evidence against you, because you have not committed any offence by reading her mail.  The court will not go behind such petty things until she proves that your act has really damaged her name/reputation/image or any other cruel act, but she has to prove it. When you both were together she had requested you to attend her mails by providing her password details and vice versa, but it will not become an act of cruelty once she decided to stay away from you legally or otherwise, the best thing to avoid this that she can change her password and deny access to you anymore, she cannot make the law to dance to her tunes.

@ noname_123,

From the link that you referred and some other cases that I found on the internet and above all reading through the sections of IT ACT of Indian legislation, it seems accessing one’s wife’s email account without her consent was(could be) considered an offense if and only if any of her mails were forwarded or deleted or sent (new mail) from her account without her knowledge. That’s my understanding of the law and I never did any of those things.

Like you mentioned she can falsely claim that I read/deleted her mails/chat history and can even claim that she never revealed her password to me. Whatever she claims, I think, have to be proved in the court of law where I will be defending against such allegations strongly. You should be aware that even the deleted mails can be retrieved by the e-mail providers if requested by the court, so if she moves forward she will be in trouble.

My motive to start this thread and my conclusion based on my research and understanding:

1.      A. What are the legal implications if I be honest in accepting that I accessed my wife’s email account?

In my case, nothing and I am confident her claims will not hold ground. In worst case I may get a warning or may be fined minimally. 

B.  Does this act constitute cruelty?

Certainly, not. In worst case it can be considered as breach of privacy but never an act of cruelty as it did not physically/mentally damage her reputation.

@Mr. T. Kalaiselvan,

You read my mind. Thank you for your inputs.

@noname: Your question amounts an offence under cyber crime law, here she has to prove that she had so much mails and some particular mails were deleted etc., once she is upto some mischief of this type, she may go to the extent of even creating false records to harm the opponent thereby laying down a trap for herself, which normally nobody will do until and unless they are really bent upon with such crooked intentions.

@Ramesh:  there is no offence of violation of privacy in your case because you were authorised by her to access her mails during those happy days together  and vice versa.  Therefore she cannot claim an act of cruelty now over the same action just because she decided to part her ways, because as you said that you have only read but never did anything with her mails, so she has got nothing to prove, she cannot even prove that you read it, how will she ?  A mere allegations cannot be a ground for cruelty, moreover, if she does that, it is she who indulges in the acts of cruelty against you by throwing false allegations against you. Her lawyer would have sufficiently briefed her about this so she would refrain from making such allegations.Moreover you have admittedly made your intention very clear that since you could not contact her due to prevailing situations, you just wanted to know about her availability by checking up her activities, so this would not amount to cruelty.  Be free.

Knowing E-mail password of wife by a husband  is a common fact.  Accessing in the E-mail while wife is in the parents house is not an offense and cannot be colourised as hacking.. 

Thank you Mr. Biswanath Roy and Mr. Kalaiselvan for sharing your thoughts.

Thanks.

Generally if you receive some good and informative messages/mails, you are tend to forward the same to other persons, for this I dont think anyone obtains consent from the original sender, but accessing somebody's mail without his/er knowledge is an act of intrusion of privacy and considered illegal.

I n the subject query discussions relating to access in some body's or anybody's e-mail account is irrelevant. Because the author categorically stated that his wife herself given the pass word to him as her husband to check up her e-mail account time to time , which means that the authority for checking up  e-mail account was given by the account holder and with her full sanction and knowledge.  WIFE ALSO GIVEN HER PASSWORD TO THE HUSBAND VOLUNTARILY. THEREFORE, PRESENT DISCUSSION STANDS AS IRRELEVANT.