Delhi court restrains estranged wife of Shikhar Dhawan from making defamatory allegations against the cricketer

A family court in New Delhi recently ordered cricketer Shikhar Dhawan's estranged wife Aesha Mukerji not to post anything defamatory against the cricketer on social media or speak anything to the press or his friends, relatives or any other person, which could tarnish his reputation [Shikhar Dhawan vs Aesha Dhawan]..Patiala House Court Judge Harish Kumar, however, asked Aesha, an Australian National, to voice her grievances, if any, only to the competent authorities in India and Australia. "Reputation of a person is dear to everyone and is considered as property of highest degree because materialistic property can be regained after loss but reputation cannot be regained once damaged. Therefore, it has got to be protected. However, it is equally true that if anyone has lawful grievance against someone, he or she cannot be restrained from venting out his or her grievance to concerned authority," the judge said in the order passed on February 1. Thus, the court said if Aesha has any "real" grievance against Dhawan, she cannot be restrained from making any grievance to concerned authority but she can certainly be restrained from sharing her grievance against him with friends, relatives, peers of parties as well as from making it public even before approaching appropriate authority."Therefore, in these circumstances, she is hereby restrained till further order from circulating any of her grievance against Dhawan or her version of the dispute involved herein or the alleged defamatory and false material against the him, to social media, to print media or to any other' forum or to friends, relatives or colleagues of the parties," the judge added..The bench was hearing a plea filed by Dhawan seeking an injunction against his estranged wife as he claimed that she had been threatening him that she would ruin his career and also tarnish his reputation by circulating some information to everyone including the cricket authorities in the country. The cricketer has a son from this wedding, who is a minor and is presently in the wife's custody in Australia. .In his plea through advocate Aman Hingorani, Dhawan claimed that his wife already shared messages alleging that he didn't give her any money for survival and that she was compelled to borrow money from her daughter's boyfriend. He further claimed that his wife accused him of ill-treating her and has told the same to their common friends, fellow cricketers and officials of the cricket authorities. He instead pointed out that he has been paying an amount of Australian $17,500 per month (inclusive of mortgage payments) along with payment of school fees, school uniform etc.Despite all this, she even circulated such defamatory messages to Dheeraj Malhotra, the owner of Delhi Capitals team of the Indian Premiere League (IPL)..The plea further stated that his wife twice threatened that she will make such defamatory information public by posting it on social media and the press. Therefore, Dhawan sought an injunction contending that any publicity to such false material amplified by social media would adversely impact his international reputation and stature and his cricketing career.