Bengaluru, July 3 -- The Madras high court on Wednesday held that phone tapping, even to detect a crime, amounts to the violation of an individual's fundamental right to privacy, unless it is strictly justified under a procedure established by law. The court said that the existing provisions of the Telegraph Act and Telegraph Rules do not permit covert interception of phone calls or messages of an individual merely to detect the commission of a crime. Such surveillance, the court said, is permissible only in cases of public emergency or in the interest of public safety. Justice N Anand Venkatesh, accordingly, quashed an authorisation issued by the Union ministry of home affairs (MHA) in 2011 for tapping the phone of a Chennai resident involved in an alleged case of bribery and for making the results of such interception available to the CBI. The judge emphasised that corruption cases must be investigated lawfully, and constitutional protections cannot be bypassed even in serious crimes. Justice Venkatesh said that a citizen's "right to privacy is a fundamental right protected under Article 21 of the Constitution, as well as part of the broader freedoms guaranteed by Part III of the Constitution".The court quashed the phone tapping order against the petitioner....