sc-stays-chef-kunal-kapur-s-divorce-on-cruelty-grounds

The Delhi High Court order granting divorce to celebrity chef Kunal Kapur has been put on hold by the Supreme Court due to the alleged cruelty he faced from his estranged wife.

 

The Supreme Court has served Kapur a notice following a plea filed by his wife. Justices Hrishikesh Roy and S V N Bhatti have referred the case to the Supreme Court Mediation Centre to explore the potential for reaching a settlement.

 

The high court's decision to grant a divorce to Kapur was based on the assertion that the behaviour of his wife towards him lacked respect and understanding.

 

The high court allowed Kapur to appeal against the family court's ruling that denied him a divorce, stating that it is an established legal principle that publicly making reckless, defamatory, humiliating, and unsupported claims against a spouse constitutes cruelty.

 

"In the light of the aforenoted facts of the present case, we find that the conduct of the respondent (wife) towards the appellant (husband) has been such that it is devoid of dignity and empathy towards him.

 

"When such is the nature of one spouse towards the other, it brings disgrace to the very essence of marriage, and there exists no possible reason as to why he should be compelled to live while enduring the agony of living together," the high court had said.

 

The couple, who had become estranged, married in April 2008, and their son was born in 2012.

 

Kapur, known for his role as a judge on "MasterChef India", alleged in his plea that his wife never showed respect to his parents and frequently humiliated him.

 

Conversely, the woman accused him of fabricating false claims to deceive the court. She claimed that she always endeavoured to communicate with her husband in a loving manner and remained loyal to him.

 

According to her allegations, he kept her uninformed and concocted fictitious tales to secure a divorce.