{"id":342371,"date":"2025-07-08T17:00:37","date_gmt":"2025-07-08T11:30:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/?p=342371"},"modified":"2025-07-09T09:11:00","modified_gmt":"2025-07-09T03:41:00","slug":"phone-tapping-in-india","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/phone-tapping-in-india\/","title":{"rendered":"Phone Tapping in India"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>News:<\/strong> The Delhi High Court rejected the plea of an accused who challenged a trial court\u2019s order accepting evidence gathered by the CBI through phone-tapping.<\/p>\n<h2>Phone Tapping in India<\/h2>\n<figure id=\"attachment_342374\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-342374\" style=\"width: 499px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-342374\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Source-ToI-2.png?resize=499%2C278&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"499\" height=\"278\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Source-ToI-2.png?resize=300%2C167&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Source-ToI-2.png?w=597&amp;ssl=1 597w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 499px) 100vw, 499px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-342374\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Source &#8211; ToI<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Phone tapping:<\/strong> Also known as <strong>cell phone monitoring or tracing<\/strong>, it is the practice of employing various <strong>applications to follow a user\u2019s phone calls<\/strong> and other actions.<\/li>\n<li>The <strong>targeted individual<\/strong> is largely <strong>not informed<\/strong> of any such activity during this operation.<\/li>\n<li><strong>The law on tapping: <\/strong>The government\u2019s powers to <strong>intercept communications<\/strong> is laid down in <strong>three pieces of legislation<\/strong>&#8211;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li>The <strong>Indian Post Office Act, 1898<\/strong> allows for the <strong>interception of communication<\/strong> through <strong>post (Section 26);<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>The <strong>Indian Telegraph Act, 1885<\/strong> is used for <strong>tapping voice calls (Section 5(2));<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Section 5(2) of the Act<\/strong> states that both <strong>state and central<\/strong> governments can, \u201c<strong>on the occurrence of any public emergency, or in the interest of the public safety\u201d, authorize interception.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>The <strong>Information Technology Act, 2000<\/strong> governs the interception of <strong>WhatsApp messages, emails, etc. (Section 69).<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Grounds for phone tapping<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Article 19(2): <\/strong>The grounds \u2014 <strong>the interest of the sovereignty, and integrity of India; the security of the state; friendly relations with foreign states; public order; or preventing incitement to the commission of an offence<\/strong> \u2014 are enumerated as \u201c<strong>reasonable restrictions<\/strong>\u201d under Article 19(2) of the Constitution.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Safeguards against interception<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Article 21: <\/strong>The right to have telephone conservation in the privacy of one\u2019s home or office is part of the <strong>Right to Life and Personal Liberty enshrined in Article 21<\/strong> of the Constitution, which cannot be curtailed <strong>except<\/strong> according to the procedure established by law.<\/li>\n<li><strong>PUCL vs Union of India Case \u2013 <\/strong>The Supreme Court <strong>upheld the law<\/strong>, but it <strong>laid down procedural safeguards<\/strong> for its application which are &#8211;\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Tapping<\/strong> of telephones is <strong>prohibited without<\/strong> an authorizing <strong>order<\/strong> from the <strong>Home Secretary<\/strong>, Government of India or the Home Secretary of the concerned State Government.<\/li>\n<li>The <strong>order<\/strong>, <strong>unless it is renewed<\/strong> shall cease to have authority at the <strong>end of two months from the date of issue<\/strong>. Though the order may be <strong>renewed<\/strong>, it <strong>cannot remain in operation beyond six months<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>Tapping must be <strong>limited to the address specified in the order<\/strong> or to address (es) likely to be used by a person specified in the order.<\/li>\n<li>All copies of the intercepted <strong>material must be destroyed<\/strong> as soon as their retention is not necessary.<\/li>\n<li>Within <strong>two months of ordering a phone tap<\/strong>, a <strong>committee<\/strong> comprising the <strong>cabinet secretary<\/strong>, the law secretary and the telecom secretary shall review the order.\n<ul>\n<li>The scrutiny by the board has also been included under Rule 419-A (17) of the Telegraph Rules.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>News: The Delhi High Court rejected the plea of an accused who challenged a trial court\u2019s order accepting evidence gathered by the CBI through phone-tapping. Phone Tapping in India Phone tapping: Also known as cell phone monitoring or tracing, it is the practice of employing various applications to follow a user\u2019s phone calls and other&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/phone-tapping-in-india\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Phone Tapping in India<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10393,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1566,1760,12039],"tags":[11872],"class_list":["post-342371","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily-factly-articles","category-polity-and-nation","category-knolls","tag-9pm-daily-factly","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/342371","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10393"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=342371"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/342371\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=342371"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=342371"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=342371"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}