BANGALORE: Those indulging in extramarital affairs are leaving a digital trail behind: messages on Whatsapp, Facebook, even Google Talk are now easy evidence permissible in court.

It was this tech proof that Rita Singh (name changed) armed herself with when she decided to call it quits with husband Geet (name changed). Geet was having an affair, and Rita had accessed evidence of his infidelity — a string of messages he exchanged with his girlfriend on Whatsapp.

With the number of young couples opting for divorce in IT City going up by leaps and bounds, there’s a growing trend of such digital evidence making its way into court files.

This is helping lawyers in a big way, who would otherwise have a tough time getting evidence and proving adultery charges. Last year, in Bangalore district jurisdiction, 4,000 divorce cases were filed while this year, the number has already touched 1,500 by June. Of these, 40% of the cases are divorces being sought on the ground of adultery and extramarital affairs.



"All clients come with either a record of messages exchanged on Whatsapp or on various chat sites. In case the spouse removes the girlfriend or boyfriend’s number after dialling from the mobile, the partner calls up the mobile service provider and asks for that number’s call history," said family court lawyer Geeta Menon. Earlier, especially in the age of landlines, it was difficult for lawyers to get such proof, said Menon.

Spurt in adultery cases

With a high 40% cases being filed on grounds of adultery, the obvious question is — who are married persons getting involved with? With working professionals, it’s mostly colleagues, while homemakers get linked up with someone from their social network. Business associates is the other group with whom a spouse could get involved.

"In tech-savvy groups, there’s always an exchange of emails and text messages even if they avoid phone calls. Once their partners get access to such information, it isn’t too difficult to prove charges of adultery," said Ujwala Mandgi, lawyer at the Family Court.



Chat files

Techie Suhel started noticing a trend in the business trips his software engineer wife was making to different cities — she was accompanied by the same colleague. On questioning her, she denied any extramarital affair. He knew about her colleague and friend Srinivas Rao, who had a three-year happy marriage behind him. When he tracked Srinivas logged on to her chat messenger and his emails, the picture became clear. It was confirmed the duo chatted long hours and had become very close to each other. With this evidence, he approached the Family Court and filed a contested divorce case on charges of adultery. He was granted a divorce.

In another case, banker Rekha Sinha (name changed) carried chat messages laden with sexual overtones to court to prove that her PRO husband was a womanizer, as evidence. It was a contested case and the court granted her divorce, admitting the chat messages as circumstantial evidence of adultery on her husband’s part.



TIMES VIEW

Now, smart technology has invaded the courts of justice too, and quite expectedly, in cases of divorce. As with such technology, it is both enabling and disabling: in this case, those indulging in affairs of the heart had better watch it when they send sweet nothings on their BBMs and G-chats. For lawyers, it’s easy access to incriminating evidence, especially in times when technology rules love affairs too. Unless smart techies outsmart this smart system.