Supreme Court stays Delhi High Court order granting divorce to chef Kunal Kapur

The Supreme Court on Monday stayed the Delhi High Court decision to grant divorce to celebrity chef Kunal Kapur..A Bench of Justices Hrishikesh Roy and SVN Bhatti sought the response of Kunal Kapur in the matter after his wife moved the top court against the High Court verdict."Issue notice, returnable in four weeks ... In the meantime, the operation of the impugned order (02.04.2024) shall remain stayed", it ordered.The Supreme Court while staying the divorce, referred the case to the Supreme Court Mediation Centre for exploring the possibility of any out-of-court settlement.The case will next be taken up after the mediation report is received..The Delhi High Court had in April granted divorce to the celebrity chef on grounds of alleged cruelty by his wife. This led to the instant appeal before the apex court..The High Court had observed that Kapur’s wife’s conduct towards him was devoid of dignity and empathy.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. It had examined the WhatsApp messages exchanged between the parties and noted that Kapur was not being allowed to meet or talk to his son.His wife, on the contrary, pleaded that the same was outright false as she has been constantly communicating with him to help bring up their child together..She argued before the apex court that the judgment was delivered by the High Court six months after it was reserved, and the same amounted to violation of Supreme Court's directions.Further, the parties had lived together and gone on vacations after the last alleged act of cruelty. Kunal Kapur in his evidence had said that his wife supported and helped him as he gained success in life, it was added.It was stressed that the family court in a reasoned order earlier had cast aspersions on the validity of the recordings relied on by him to show her alleged acts. The High Court wrongly relied on the same selective evidence that is arguably premediated, however, it was stated.Further, Kunal Kapur had been negligent in paying even for their bare minimum sustenance since the dispute..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.His wife denied all the allegations, and said that she compromised her professional career to assist her family and her husband. Even the family court had said there was a possibilty for them to live together to sort out their acrimony for each other, it was underscored.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..Her appeal emphasised that the family court had held that, amidst fights, the mere act of calling the police cannot be said to amount to cruelty unless the complaint was found false.Further, it had taken note of the chef's allegedly flirtatious texts to female fans on social media, she added.The family court had stated that he was exaggerating old issues in their marriage to highlight purported cruelty 'when none so existed', to have the marriage dissolved..Kunal Kapur's wife was represented by Senior Advocate Meenakshi Arora with advocates Ranjeeta Rohatgi, Saket Sikri, Zeba Khair, Meera Kaura Patel, Ekta Sikri, AP Siddiqui, Vishal Banshal, Chandratanay Chaube, Ajay Pal Singh Kullar, and Ananya Garg before the Supreme Court.Advocates Shashank Bajpai, R Ilam Paridi, Aashna Mehra, R Vishnu Kumar, Aman Kumar, Harshita Verma, and Vikhyat Oberoi appeared for Kunal Kapur, on caveat.