Delhi: The Delhi High Court has today sought Payal Abdullah, the ex-wife of former chief minister Omar Abdullah, to respond to Omar’s plea for divorce. Omar had filed for divorce on grounds that their marriage has been irretrievably broken. The court further asked for her stand on Omar’s application seeking an early hearing in the case.
A notice has been issued by a bench of Justices Siddharth Mridul and Deepa Sharma to Payal asking her to file a reply before the next date of hearing on April 23. Advocate Malavika Rajkotia, who is appearing for the former chief minister, said that the court had earlier asked if both the parties wanted to get remarried.
The trial court has said that Omar could not prove that the marriage was irretrievably broken down. It was also noted that Omar could not prove his claims of ‘cruelty’ and ‘desertion’, that he had alleged. In his petition in the trial court, he had claimed that he did not enjoy conjugal relationship since 2007. The couple had got married on September 1, 1994, and were living separately since 2009.
Omar’s plea in the trial court seeking for divorce was dismissed on August 30, 2016. The couple has two sons who live with their mother.
With PTI inputs