High Court junks Omar Abdullah's plea seeking divorce on grounds of cruelty, says 'no merit'

New Delhi, December 12

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday dismissed National Conference leader Omar Abdullah’s petition seeking divorce from his estranged wife Payal Abdullah on grounds of cruelty, saying there was no merit in his appeal against a family court’s order refusing to grant him divorce.

Upholds family court order

• HC Bench upholds 2016 family court order refusing to grant a decree of divorce to Omar Abdullah
• Family court had dismissed Omar’s plea saying he couldn’t prove ‘cruelty’ or ‘desertion’ as basis of seeking divorce
• In Aug, HC directed Omar to pay Rs 1.5L monthly interim maintenance to wife & Rs 60K/month each for education of their 2 sons

A Bench headed by Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva upheld the 2016 family court order refusing to grant a decree of divorce to Abdullah, a former CM of Jammu and Kashmir.

“We find no infirmity in the view taken by the family court that the allegations of cruelty were vague and unacceptable, that the appellant failed to prove any act which could be termed as an act of cruelty, be it physical or mental, towards him,” the Bench said. A detailed verdict was awaited.

On August 30, 2016, the family court had dismissed Abdullah’s plea, holding he could not prove his claims of “cruelty” or “desertion”, which were the grounds alleged by him for seeking a decree of divorce.

“The petitioner (Abdullah) has not been able to explain a single circumstance to show the supervening circumstances have erupted which has made it impossible for him to continue his relationship with the respondent (Payal). “Rather, evidence shows they were in continuous contact till the filing of the divorce petition,” the trial court had said in its order, adding “there is not an iota of evidence in regard to the circumstances which have prevailed to prompt the petitioner to file the divorce plea”.

Abdullah had claimed before the family court his marriage had broken down irretrievably and he had not enjoyed a conjugal relationship since 2007 and that the couple, married on September 1, 1994, were living separately since 2009. The couple have two sons who are staying with their mother.

The petition before the trial court also alleged Abdullah was subjected to “unreasonable conduct” by Payal, causing pain and harassment to the politician. & PTI