The Hindu : New Delhi News : Supreme Court stays divorce proceedings

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Thursday, Apr 17, 2008
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New Delhi

Supreme Court stays divorce proceedings

J. Venkatesan

Initiated by actor Prashant against his wife Grahalakshmi

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday stayed all further proceedings in the divorce petition filed by actor Prashant against his wife Grahalakshmi before a Family Court in Chennai.

A Bench of Justice B.N. Agrawal and Justice G.S. Singhvi was hearing a special leave petition filed by Grahalakshmi against a Madras High Court judgment directing the Family Court to dispose of Prashanth’s petition at an early date, or before June-end.

It passed the order during ‘mention time’ after hearing senior counsel L. Nageswara Rao, appearing for Grahalakshmi. It directed the SLP to be listed for further hearing on April 28.

The plea

Said Grahalakshmi: “The present case highlights the trauma and torture undergone by the petitioner in her matrimonial home, being driven out by the respondent {Prashant}, who is an actor in the Tamil film industry, when she was barely two months pregnant.”

Grahalakshmi said she was taking care of her one-and-a-half year-old child without any moral or financial help from the respondent or her in-laws.

She said the High Court order on March 20 caused immense miscarriage of justice. A connected matrimonial petition filed by Narayanan Venu Prasad against her had been relegated to the background and the one filed by Prashant was being sought to be taken up for disposal on or before June.

She said in the event of her succeeding in the petition filed by Prasad, the whole substratum of the case filed by Prashant would fail. It was, therefore, imperative that the petition of Prasad should be decided first. She sought quashing of the impugned order and an interim stay of its operation and stay of all further proceedings initiated by Prashant in the Family Court.

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