Supreme Court Sends Notice To Payal Abdullah Over Omar Abdullah's Divorce Plea (image: instagram.com/omar_abdullah_jk)

The Supreme Court on Monday issued notice to Payal Abdullah, the estranged wife of former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister and National Conference (NC) leader Omar Abdullah, on a divorce petition filed by him.

Omar Abdullah has approached the top court after the Delhi High Court turned down his divorce plea from Payal.

A Bench of Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and Ahsanuddin Amanullah sought Payal’s response on the petition within six weeks.

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Senior advocate Kapil Sibal appearing for the Omar Abdullah stated in the Court that the couple’s marriage was “dead” and they have been living separately for the last 15 years.

He requested the Supreme Court’s intervention under the Article 142 of the Constitution which enables the Court to pass any order necessitating complete justice in a matter. In the past, this legislation have been cited by the apex Court to dissolve marriages.

Omar met Payal while they were both working at The Oberoi, Delhi and got married on September 1, 1994. They have two sons – Zahir and Zamir. In 2011, ending 17-year-long marriage, NC leader announced his separation from Payal.

When the politician approached a family court on August 30, 2016 to grant him divorce, the plea was rejected on the account that he failed to prove “irretrievable breakdown of the marriage,” the Bar and Bench reports. Omar Abdullah could not prove his allegation of cruelty or desertion against Payal, the family court adds.

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He then moved to the Delhi High Court. A bench of Justices Sanjeev Sachdeva and Vikas Mahajan dismissed Abdullah’s plea and upheld family court’s order claiming that his allegations were vague.

“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 order had said.

Besides, the High Court directed Omar to pay Rs 1.5 lakh per month as maintenance to Payal and Rs 60,000 every month each for his two son’s education.