The Delhi High Court on Tuesday granted divorce to celebrity chef Kunal Kapur on grounds of cruelty by his wife. .A Division Bench of Justices Suresh Kumar Kait and Neena Bansal Krishna observed that Kapur’s wife’s conduct towards him was devoid of dignity and empathy.“In the light of the afore-noted facts of the present case, we find that conduct of the respondent [wife] towards appellant [Kapur] 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 exist no possible reason as to why he should be compelled to live while enduring the agony of living together,” the Court observed.It said that the wife’s conduct fell under the ambit of Section 13(1)(ia) of the Hindu Marriage Act and the family court had erred in not allowing Kapur’s plea for divorce.“The present appeal is accordingly allowed and the impugned judgment dated 01.10.2018 is set aside. The appellant is granted divorce under Section 13(1) (ia) of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955,” the Bench ordered..The Court examined the WhatsApp messages exchanged between the parties and noted that Kapur has not been allowed to meet or talk to his son. "Despite his repeated requests seeking an opportunity to meet his son, the respondent has evaded it one pretext or the other while at the simultaneously demanding payments from him."It added, "In e-mail dated 30.11.2022 exchanged between the parties, it is noted that despite the appellant requesting not to bad mouth him in front of their child, the respondent is seen complaining showing least concern for the development of the child. Such deprivation of company of their son with the malicious intent to create a rift between the father and child, no doubt will put any parent to distress.".Kapur got married in the year 2008 and a son was born out of wedlock in 2012.It was his case that during the marriage, his wife was in the habit of making calls to the police to threaten him and his family. He alleged that in September 2016, while he was shooting for MasterChef India at Yah Raj Studios, his wife barged into the studio with their minor son and created a ruckus at his workplace following which he got a restraining order against her.Kapur also said that since he had started gaining public attention, his wife threatened him to spread false rumour to the media and register false criminal complaints against him and his parents. On one occasion, his wife even slapped him just before he was to leave for his shoot.His wife denied the allegations and said that she compromised her professional career to assist her family and her husband.She added that her in-laws regularly taunted her for having a job rather than doing the house-hold work and repeatedly humiliated her for petty reasons as she did not fit into their conservative definition of an ideal daughter-in-law..The Court considered the arguments and said that it is a settled position of law that making reckless, defamatory, humiliating and unsubstantiated allegations in public against a spouse amounts to cruelty.“It is relevant to mention here that within 2 years of marriage, the appellant has established himself as a Celebrity Chef which is a reflection of his hard work and determination which would not have been possible had he been one who was dependent on his spouse or in-laws for his necessities. Considering the aforesaid facts, it is only prudent to observe that these are mere allegations made by the respondent to disrepute the appellant in the eyes of the Court and such unsubstantiated claims have the effect on one’s reputation and therefore, amounts to cruelty.”The Court further said that though a woman cannot be expected to work for the whole household, however, when a woman takes up the responsibilities of the house out of her free will, she does so out of sheer love for her family and no price can be put on it.“It is often a natural consequence of motherhood that after the birth of a child, there is an increased sense of responsibilities which disrupts the work life balance of any woman for which husband cannot be blamed. However, in the present case, blaming the spouse for her personal failure is only perceived as a tactic to guilt the husband into fulfilling her unreasonable monetary demands, causing him great mental agony. Therefore, this Court is of the opinion that such conduct of the respondent amounts to cruelty,” the Court said. It, therefore, allowed Kapur’s plea and granted him divorce..Senior Advocate Geeta Luthra along with advocates Kamakshi Gupta, Apoorva Maheshwari and Anushka Khaitan appeared for Kunal Kapur.His wife was represented through Senior Advocate Sunil Mittal as well as advocates Zeba Khair and Ananya Garg.
The Delhi High Court on Tuesday granted divorce to celebrity chef Kunal Kapur on grounds of cruelty by his wife. .A Division Bench of Justices Suresh Kumar Kait and Neena Bansal Krishna observed that Kapur’s wife’s conduct towards him was devoid of dignity and empathy.“In the light of the afore-noted facts of the present case, we find that conduct of the respondent [wife] towards appellant [Kapur] 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 exist no possible reason as to why he should be compelled to live while enduring the agony of living together,” the Court observed.It said that the wife’s conduct fell under the ambit of Section 13(1)(ia) of the Hindu Marriage Act and the family court had erred in not allowing Kapur’s plea for divorce.“The present appeal is accordingly allowed and the impugned judgment dated 01.10.2018 is set aside. The appellant is granted divorce under Section 13(1) (ia) of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955,” the Bench ordered..The Court examined the WhatsApp messages exchanged between the parties and noted that Kapur has not been allowed to meet or talk to his son. "Despite his repeated requests seeking an opportunity to meet his son, the respondent has evaded it one pretext or the other while at the simultaneously demanding payments from him."It added, "In e-mail dated 30.11.2022 exchanged between the parties, it is noted that despite the appellant requesting not to bad mouth him in front of their child, the respondent is seen complaining showing least concern for the development of the child. Such deprivation of company of their son with the malicious intent to create a rift between the father and child, no doubt will put any parent to distress.".Kapur got married in the year 2008 and a son was born out of wedlock in 2012.It was his case that during the marriage, his wife was in the habit of making calls to the police to threaten him and his family. He alleged that in September 2016, while he was shooting for MasterChef India at Yah Raj Studios, his wife barged into the studio with their minor son and created a ruckus at his workplace following which he got a restraining order against her.Kapur also said that since he had started gaining public attention, his wife threatened him to spread false rumour to the media and register false criminal complaints against him and his parents. On one occasion, his wife even slapped him just before he was to leave for his shoot.His wife denied the allegations and said that she compromised her professional career to assist her family and her husband.She added that her in-laws regularly taunted her for having a job rather than doing the house-hold work and repeatedly humiliated her for petty reasons as she did not fit into their conservative definition of an ideal daughter-in-law..The Court considered the arguments and said that it is a settled position of law that making reckless, defamatory, humiliating and unsubstantiated allegations in public against a spouse amounts to cruelty.“It is relevant to mention here that within 2 years of marriage, the appellant has established himself as a Celebrity Chef which is a reflection of his hard work and determination which would not have been possible had he been one who was dependent on his spouse or in-laws for his necessities. Considering the aforesaid facts, it is only prudent to observe that these are mere allegations made by the respondent to disrepute the appellant in the eyes of the Court and such unsubstantiated claims have the effect on one’s reputation and therefore, amounts to cruelty.”The Court further said that though a woman cannot be expected to work for the whole household, however, when a woman takes up the responsibilities of the house out of her free will, she does so out of sheer love for her family and no price can be put on it.“It is often a natural consequence of motherhood that after the birth of a child, there is an increased sense of responsibilities which disrupts the work life balance of any woman for which husband cannot be blamed. However, in the present case, blaming the spouse for her personal failure is only perceived as a tactic to guilt the husband into fulfilling her unreasonable monetary demands, causing him great mental agony. Therefore, this Court is of the opinion that such conduct of the respondent amounts to cruelty,” the Court said. It, therefore, allowed Kapur’s plea and granted him divorce..Senior Advocate Geeta Luthra along with advocates Kamakshi Gupta, Apoorva Maheshwari and Anushka Khaitan appeared for Kunal Kapur.His wife was represented through Senior Advocate Sunil Mittal as well as advocates Zeba Khair and Ananya Garg.
