HC seeks Payal's reply on Omar Abdullah's plea

The Delhi High Court today sought the response of Payal Abdullah, the estranged wife of former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, on his plea challenging a trial court order dismissing his divorce petition.
A bench of justices Pradeep Nandrajog and Pratibha Rani issued notice to Payal asking her to file a reply by November 17, the next date of hearing.
On August 30, the trial court had dismissed Omar's plea seeking divorce from Payal saying he had failed to prove irretrievable breakdown of the marriage.
The court had said that Omar could not prove his claims of "cruelty" or "desertion" which were the grounds alleged by him for grant of decree of divorce.

"The petitioner (Omar) has not been able to explain a single circumstance to show that the supervening circumstances have erupted which has made it impossible for him to continue his relationship with the respondent (Payal).
"Rather, evidence shows that they were in continuous contact till the filing of the divorce petition," the court had said in its order, adding that "there is not an iota of evidence in regard to the circumstances which have prevailed to prompt the petitioner to file the divorce plea."

It had further held that Omar "failed to prove his case for divorce on ground of cruelty."

In his plea seeking divorce, Omar had claimed that his marriage had broken down irretrievably and he has not enjoyed conjugal relationship since 2007 and that the couple, married on September 1, 1994, were living separately since 2009. The couple have two sons who are staying with their mother.
The petition before the trial court had also added that Omar was subject to "unreasonable conduct" of Payal, causing pain and harassment to the politician.