The Delhi High Court granted divorce to celebrity chef Kunal Kapoor on the grounds of cruelty committed by his former wife, highlighting the lack of respect and empathy in her behaviour towards him. The HC granted Kapur's appeal challenging a family court order delaying his divorce, citing that publicising reckless, defamatory, and humiliating allegations against a spouse constitutes cruelty according to established legal precedent.
“In light of the facts presented in the current case, we find that the defendant’s conduct towards the appellant's husband has been such that it lacks dignity and compassion towards him," the court observed.
"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," a bench of Justices Suresh Kumar Kait and Neena Bansal Krishna said.
Kunal Kapur, who rose to public fame with his appearance as a judge on the television show 'Master Chef', in his plea accused his former wife of never respecting his parents and humiliating him. His former wife, meanwhile, alleged that Kapur was making false allegations to mislead the court and said that she always tried to communicate with her husband and was loyal to him. However, he kept her in the dark and concocted fabricated stories to obtain a divorce, she claimed.
The estranged couple married in 2008. Their son was born in 2012.