Section 128

This rule protects the trust and openness that spouses need to share their lives honestly. It comes from English common law and was carried into India through Section 122 of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872, now restated in Section 128 of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023. The idea is that if spouses feared their private conversations could later be used as courtroom evidence, they might hide things from each other, weakening the marriage bond that the law wants to encourage.

The Supreme Court, in M.C. Verghese v. T.J. Ponnan (1970), held that this privilege survives even after the marriage ends (through divorce or death) — the protection attaches to communications made *during* the marriage, not to the marriage's ongoing existence. Courts have also clarified that the privilege belongs to the spouse who received the communication, but they still need the consent of the spouse who made it before disclosing it, except in the two listed exceptions (disputes between the spouses themselves, or a criminal case where one spouse is the accused and the other the victim).

• Myth: The privilege disappears once the couple divorces or one spouse dies.
  Fact: Courts have held the protection continues even after the marriage ends, as long as the communication was made while the couple was married.
• Myth: A spouse can freely share what the other spouse told them in private, as long as it's true.
  Fact: Truth doesn't matter here — the law blocks disclosure unless the spouse who made the statement (or their legal representative) consents, or a listed exception applies.
• Myth: This rule can be used to hide evidence in any case involving the couple.
  Fact: It does not apply in disputes between the spouses themselves or in criminal cases where one spouse is prosecuted for a crime against the other.