Chennai, July 2 -- Holding phone tapping as a violation of the fundamental right to privacy, Madras High Court today made it clear that the Indian Telegraph Act 1885 permits it only during public emergency or public safety and not for normal criminal investigation.
Justice N Anand Venkatesh, rejecting the contention of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) that phone interception was necessary to prevent and investigate corruption, claiming that it constituted a threat to public safety, quashed the interception order of 2011 against the petitioner. The Judge also declared as invalid all the telephonic communications pursuant to it. However, it was clarified that this order would not impact the evidence the CBI had gathered independentl...