Delhi High Court Rejects Omar Abdullah's Divorce Plea (Image: X @OmarAbdullah)

The Delhi High Court rejected National Conference leader Omar Abdullah”s plea seeking divorce from his estranged wife, Payal Abdullah. The Delhi High Court stated on Tuesday, December 12, that it finds no infirmity in the family court order that refused to grant him divorce. Omar Abdullah and Payal Abdullah, who got married in September 1994, have been living separately since 2009.

The petition was rejected by a division bench of Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva and Justice Vikas Mahajan. The division bench upheld the order of the trial court, which had refused to grant divorce to Omar Abdullah, the former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister. Notably, in August 2016, the trial court dismissed the National Conference leader”s plea seeking divorce. Omar Abdullah had sought divorce from his estranged wife on the grounds that he was subjected to cruelty by her. The division bench stated that Omar Abdullah failed to prove any act of cruelty, whether physical or mental, by Payal Abdullah.

Earlier in September, the Delhi High Court directed Omar Abdullah to pay Rs 1.5 lakh to his estranged wife every month as interim maintenance. The court also directed the National Conference leader to pay ₹60,000 each for the education of his two sons every month. On that occasion, the court also made the important observation that Omar Abdullah has the financial capacity to provide a “decent standard of living to his wife and children”. This court order came on Payal Abdullah”s petition against a 2018 lower court order, which granted her an interim maintenance of Rs 75,000.