Celebrity Chef Kunal Kapur Granted Divorce By Delhi High Court Owing To “Cruelty” By Wife
Delhi Court ruled in favour of celebrity chef Kunal Kapur, granting him a divorce on the basis of “cruelty” by his wife.
Delhi Court on Tuesday ruled in favour of celebrity chef Kunal Kapur, granting him divorce on the basis of “cruelty” by his wife. The top court came down heavily on Kunal Kapur’s estranged wife calling her allegations “wild” and accusing her of bringing “disrepute” to the celebrity chef. The court also observed Kunal Kapur's wife conduct towards him was "devoid of dignity and empathy". The controversial couple had gotten married in April 2008, and then welcomed a son in 2012. However, things between the two started deteriorating after the Kunal Kapur, who had been a judge on the Masterchef India show, started gaining fame.
The Delhi High Court had allowed Kunal Kapur’s appeal challenging a family court’s 2018 order, where he was denied divorce under the Hindu Marriage Act.
“The respondent (wife) in her written submission has made allegations of infidelity and extra-marital relations of the appellant (Kapur) after him coming to limelight. She has averred that once the appellant started getting public attention, he regularly engaged in flirtatious texts with his fans in addition to making unnatural sexual demands from her. However, in her testimony as RW-1, she failed to depose any specific instance showing that she was only insinuating. Nor did she provide any proof apart from photographs which are based on her presumption of illicit affairs as admitted by her in her cross-examination,” a division bench of Justices Suresh Kumar Kait and Neena Bansal Krishna said.
The bench observed that the wife’s allegations were “wild” and “without any sound basis, purely with the intention to disrepute”
“Such baseless arguments, when made about a person who is regularly in the public eye, have long lasting effects on his reputation, and tarnishes his image among his peers. Therefore, such an act amounts to cruelty,” the bench said.
Kunal Kapur had earlier claimed that his wife would often call the police on him and even threatened to spread rumours against him on social media.
The wife on the other hand had alleged that her husband lacked “respect for the institution of marriage and has also been dishonest as a parent”.
“In collusion with his parents, has enacted sordid drama to get rid of daughter-in-law by either forcing her to commit suicide or by taking divorce”, she stated.
The court, however, was having none of it and even observed that such sort of behavior disgraced “the very essence of marriage”.
“In the light of the afore-noted facts of the present case, we find that conduct of the respondent towards appellant 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 exists no possible reason as to why he should be compelled to live while enduring the agony of living together,” the bench said.
