Gwalior, June 18 -- In a significant ruling, the Gwalior Bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court has held that private WhatsApp chats can be admitted as evidence in matrimonial disputes under Section 14 of the Family Courts Act, even if obtained without the consent of the partner or deemed inadmissible under the Indian Evidence Act, 1872.
Justice Ashish Shroti, delivering the order, stated that the right to privacy under Article 21 of the Constitution is not absolute and may yield to the right to a fair trial, which also arises under Article 21. "Since no fundamental right under our Constitution is absolute, in the event of conflict between two fundamental rights, as in this case, a contest between the right to privacy and the right to fair...