The Supreme Court recently upheld the Gujarat High Court's decision to reject interference in the session judge's order, which directed the accused to provide a voice sample to the police. The Supreme Court stated that a Magistrate has the authority to order the collection of a voice sample for investigative purposes, relying on the precedent set by the case Ritesh Sinha v. State of Uttar Pradesh. The Court emphasized that the Magistrate possesses this power "until explicit provisions are engrafted in the CrPC by the Parliament.

The Apex Court was considering a special leave petition challenging the Gujarat High Court's decision, which upheld the Special Court's order in Gandhinagar in 2021. The order required the accused petitioner to provide voice samples for a spectrograph test in a corruption case.

The petitioner's counsel argued that without the framing of rules and the notification of an appropriate standard operating system under the Criminal Procedure (Identification) Act, 2022, the collection of voice samples would infringe upon the accused's "right of privacy."

The Court referred to its decision in Ritesh Sinha v. State of Uttar Pradesh, where it stated that the fundamental right to privacy is not absolute and must yield to compelling public interest, citing previous cases such as Modern Dental College and Research Centre v. State of M.P., Gobind v. State of M.P., and K.S. Puttaswamy (Privacy 9) v. Union of India, a judgment by a nine-judge bench.

The Court further observed that the decision in Ritesh Sinha indicates that the Magistrate has the power to order the collection of a voice sample for the investigation of a crime until specific provisions are incorporated into the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) by Parliament. Such directions were issued by invoking powers under Article 142 of the Constitution of India.

In upholding the decision of the High Court, the Supreme Court stated that it found no flaw in the High Court's judgment or the Special Court's order, which directed the accused to provide his voice sample to facilitate the investigation of the crime.