The Delhi High Court on Monday said that allowing illegally intercepted messages and audio conversations as evidence in a trial would violate fundamental rights of citizens, Live Law reported.

The court made the observation while hearing the petition of Jatinder Pal Singh, who was booked by the Central Bureau of Investigation in 2010 in a bribery case.

According to the Central Bureau of Investigation, the then Medical Council of India President Dr Ketan Desai had entered into a criminal conspiracy with Singh. They wanted to show recognition for the courses and grant of permission to Gian Sagar Medical College and Hospital in Punjab’s Patiala city as mandated by the Indian Medical Council Act, 1956.

The agency alleged that Singh paid a bribe of Rs 2 crore to Desai for allowing admission to the fourth year of MBBS course at the college despite there being deficiencies, Bar and Bench reported.

In 2012, a special court had framed charges against Singh under the Prevention of Corruption Act and Section 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code. Singh appealed against the charges in the Delhi High Court.

He contended that the CBI based its case on telephonic conversations that were intercepted and recorded illegally. He also argued that the conversations had not been sent for a forensic analysis.

The High Court also took note of the Rule 419A of the Telegraph Act which states that the home secretary’s order allowing to intercept telephonic conversations has to be forwarded to the review committee within seven days.

“This Court does not find any material on record to establish that any review of the order of the Home Secretary was conducted in compliance of the aforesaid rules framed under the Telegraph Act,” Justice Chandra Dhari Singh said, according to Live Law. “Therefore, this Court is convinced that the Special Judge while passing the impugned orders has totally ignored the provisions of the aforesaid rules.”

The court added that the CBI’s main allegation that a bribe was paid to bypass some rules of the Medical Council of India did not hold ground. It said that the relevant requirement did not exist in the rules at the time.

The court further noted that Desai, who allegedly took the bribe, has been discharged from the case. It said that in view of this fact, there was no point in continuing with the criminal proceedings that had been initiated ten years back.