The majority of the accusations made by Dhawan against his wife who separated from him were accepted by Family Court Judge Harish Kumar, who concluded that she had cruelly and mentally harassed him.
Cricketer Shikhar Dhawan received a divorce from his ex-wife Aesha Mukerji on Wednesday after the court in Delhi found that she had treated him cruelly. (Shikhar Dhawan v. Aesha Dhawan).
Due to the fact that the wife either did not fight the charges or did not attempt to defend herself, Judge Harish Kumar accepted all of the accusations made by Dhawan against his wife in his divorce petition.
The judge determined that by making Dhawan live apart from his sole son for a year, the wife caused him mental suffering.
The court gave Dhawan visiting rights so that he may see his kid for the necessary amount of time in India and Australia as well as talk to him on a video call, although refusing to make any decisions regarding the boy’s long-term custody.
The court further mandated that Aesha bring the child to India for overnight stays with Dhawan and his family, at least for the first half of the academic year’s summer vacation.
It is requested to raise the issue of visitation/custody of the minor son with its counterpart in Australia to help him have regular visitation or communication with his own son or his permanent custody, the Court ruled. “Since petitioner is a reputed international cricketer and has been pride of the nation, subject to petitioner approaching the Union Government of India,” the Court said.
The wife first stated that she would reside in India with him, as per Dhawan’s request. She attempted to do so, but was unable to because of a commitment to her ex-husband, with whom she shares two daughters. The ex-wife had promised her former husband that she would stay in Australia, where she now resides with her two girls and a son from Dhawan.
“He (Dhawan) had endured much pain and suffering from living apart from his own son for years, through no fault of his own. Even though the wife denied the claim, saying that she wanted to move to India with him but was unable to because of her commitment to her daughters from a previous marriage, who required her to remain in Australia, and that he was aware of her commitment, she did not opt to challenge the claim, the judge noted.
The judge stated that the undisputed testimony of Dhawan must be taken seriously and added,
Therefore, it has been established that the wife broke her promise to establish a matrimonial house in India after the couple was married. As a result, the man had to endure a long-distance relationship and years of painful separation from his own son.
The Court also took into account Dhawan’s argument that his wife had forced him to give her 99 percent ownership of the three houses he had paid for with his own money in Australia. The Court noticed that she had additionally forced him to add her as a joint owner in the other two homes.
The judge determined that Aesha accepted Dhawan’s accusations because she failed to dispute the claim either.
It was concluded that Dhawan’s allegations that she forced him to make her the owner to some extent in all three properties or that she took sale money to the extent declared and confirmed by him had to be taken as true in the lack of any other reasonable defence.
Regarding the claim that Aesha sent malicious messages to the Indian Premier League (IPL) team owners, various officials in the nation’s cricket board, and other cricketers, she asserted that she had only sent messages to three people in order to guarantee that she would receive her monthly maintenance on time because Dhawan had been delaying the payments.
The Court, however, rejected her argument and determined that she had written insulting SMS to multiple people with the intention of pressuring, spreading, and humiliating Dhawan.
The Court also accepted the claim that Aesha and Dhawan got into a fight over Aesha’s father “taking out time” to take him to the hospital when he got COVID-19.
The Court stated: “Petitioner further alleged that in or around January 2020, Aesha and the minor son came to India to spend a prolonged period of time, but her daughters stayed back in Australia. However, she still forced him to send her daughters AU $15,500 per month (inclusive of mortgage payments) on the basis that they were struggling to survive.” the Court noted.
Dhawan had to finally raise the payments to AU $16,500 per month and then AU $17,500 per month because to the added expense of paying school fees on top of this.
For Dhawan, attorney Aman Hingorani appeared for the Divorce case. The Divorce was finally granted to Shikhar Dhawan from his wife Aesha Mukerji and the case has now been dismissed.
