Indus Valley Times

By Shrikant Panda

Bhubaneswar, Dec. 22: The High Court of Odisha on Thursday overturned an earlier verdict of a family court and granted the divorce petition to Biju Janata Dal (BJD) Lok Sabha member Anubhav Mohanty.

Anubhav had prayed to the court for divorce from his actress wife Varsha Priyadarshini.

While allowing the couple to part ways, the HC overturned the ruling of the Cuttack family court that had earlier rejected the divorce petition of the couple.

The BJD lawmaker Anubhav had earlier moved the HC challenging the decision of Cuttack Family Court which had rejected his divorce petition against his wife and film actress Varsha Priyadarshini.

The family court quashed the divorce petition in November 2023 after the couple could not prove their allegations and counter allegations.

Speaking to the media about the issues, Anubhav’s counsel Lalit Mishra said that the final hearing of the divorce case was held on Thursday in the HC.

“The final hearing of the case was held by a division bench comprising Justice Arindam Sinha and Justice Sibo Sankar Mishra. The bench heard arguments from both sides – Anubhav and Varsha. The main ground or grievance of the issue was the non-consummation of the marriage. We had taken up the matter with the family court on this ground, but the court had rejected it,” he said.

Mishra added that his client under Paragraph-80 admitted that he had no consummation of the marriage with Varsha.

“The High Court weighed the evidence of both sides but accepted the grounds of non-consummation as cited by Anubhav. The court examined the order of the judge of the family court rejecting the divorce case and announced that the case deserves divorce,” he noted.         

Anubhav had initially filed the divorce petition at a Delhi-based court in July 2020 citing non-consummation of his marriage with the actress. The case was transferred to the family court in Cuttack following the direction of the Supreme Court in March 2021.

The court held that Mohanty had failed to establish that his wife refused consummation of their marriage and caused mental cruelty to the petitioner by her conduct towards him and his family members.

As per the decision of the Court, the petitioner has failed to substantiate his pleadings as he is not entitled to get a decree of divorce in his favour in the interest of social justice. The court also said though Varsha claimed restitution of conjugal rights, she made unsubstantiated allegations against Anubhav.

Challenging the ruling of the family court, the actor-turned-politician filed a fresh petition with the Orissa High Court seeking divorce from his wife Varsha. The petition has been filed under section 19 (1) of the Family Courts Act.