NEW DELHI, Oct 5: A Delhi Court has granted divorce to cricketer Shikhar Dhawan on grounds of “cruelty” inflicted on the cricketer by his estranged wife Aesha Dhawan by refusing to come to India to stay with him and allowing him to meet his own son for years.
Mr Dhawan and Aesha Mukherjee married in 2012 and have a 10-year-old son, Zoraver Dhawan. Both Aesha and Zoraver are Australian citizens. Aesha was previously married and has two daughters with first husband and stays in Australia.
Family Court Judge Harish Kumar accepted Mr Dhawan’s accusations against his wife after it stated that she was unable to prove the allegations as false. The judge observed that Mr Dhawan was subjected to mental agony by his wife who forced him into being in a “long distance marriage” by living in Australia and keeping him away from his son for years.
In his petition, Shikhar Dhawan claimed that his wife has promised to move to India to live with him as he was unable to undertake a similar move to Australia, owing to his career commitments. However, soon after, she backtracked and refused to move as it would force her to give up custody of her two daughters to her ex-husband.
“He (Dhawan) for no fault of his own had been through immense agony and anguish of living separately from his own son for years. Even though the wife denied the allegation, submitting that though she genuinely wanted to live in India with him, yet she did not choose to contest the claim. The respondent, by conducting herself in the manner, has inflicted such cruelty, agony and trauma on him, that it was impossible for the petitioner to save the marriage,” the court said.
Mr Dhawan also alleged that Aesha forced him to make her the owner of the three properties that the cricketer bought in Australia. She owned 99 percent of one of the properties and was a joint owner in the other two.
The court said Aesha was unable to prove that she did not compel Mr Dhawan to make her an owner of the properties and she also contributed funds towards their purchase. “The respondent was required to prove that properties were purchased out of her fund as well or her name was included out of love and affection. Thus, Dhawan’s allegation that she compelled him to make her owner to some extent in all three properties or that she pocketed sale proceeds thereof has got to be believed as true,” it added.
The court also accepted Mr Dhawan’s allegations that Aesha forced her to pay child support not only for their son but also her two daughters for whom she already received support payments from her first husband. The court has now granted mandatory visitation rights to Mr Dhawan to meet his son in India and Australia. It also ordered Aesha to bring their son to India for visitation purposes including overnight stay with Mr Dhawan and his family and during the school holidays.
(Manas Dasgupta)
