Today, On 15th July, The Supreme Court requested a response from Payal Abdullah regarding Omar Abdullah’s divorce plea. This follows the Delhi High Court’s December 2023 rejection of the former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister’s request for divorce from his estranged wife.
New Delhi: The Supreme Court, On Monday, issued a notice regarding a petition from former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, who seeking a divorce from his wife, Payal Abdullah.
The Bench, comprising Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and Ahsanuddin Amanullah, requested Payal to respond to the petition within six weeks.
Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal, representing Omar Abdullah, argued that Abdullah’s marriage was “dead” as he and his wife have been living separately for 15 years. Sibal requested the Supreme Court to use its authority under Article 142 of the Constitution, which allows the court to issue orders for complete justice, to dissolve the marriage. This article has been used previously by the court to terminate marriages.
The Supreme Court issued a notice regarding Abdullah’s appeal against the Delhi High Court’s decision, which denied him a divorce based on allegations of cruelty. The High Court upheld the family court’s ruling that Abdullah’s accusations of cruelty by his wife, Payal, unsubstantiated and vague.
Omar Abdullah and Payal married in September 1994 but have been living apart for an extended period. Abdullah’s initial divorce request rejected by a family court on August 30, 2016, which found that he did not adequately demonstrate an “irretrievable breakdown of the marriage.”
The court also concluded that he failed to prove claims of “cruelty” or “desertion” and could not identify any specific circumstances making it impossible to continue the marriage.
The order stated,
“The family court’s decision found that the cruelty allegations were vague and unsubstantiated. The appellant was unable to demonstrate any acts, either physical or mental, that could be classified as cruelty,”
Following the family court’s decision, Abdullah appealed to the High Court, asserting that the marriage had irretrievably broken down since 2009. The High Court previously increased the maintenance payments Abdullah required to provide to Payal, ordering him to pay Rs.1.5 lakh per month to her and Rs.60,000 per month to each of his two sons while they were in law school.
Under Section 125 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), the trial court had initially granted interim maintenance of Rs.75,000 per month to Payal and Rs.25,000 to their son until he turned 18.
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