Court Refuses To Quash Odisha MP Anubhav’s Divorce Plea; Next Hearing September 14

Cuttack: The family court here on Tuesday rejected Ollywood actress Varsha Priyadarshini’s petition to quash the divorce petition filed by her actor-turned-MP husband Anubhav Mohanty, without hearing.

While Varsha’s counsel had pleaded factual errors in the divorce petition, the court said that it had enough facts to allow a thorough trial and cannot be quashed at the initial stage.

The next hearing on the divorce petition has been slated for September 14.

On August 26, the Orissa High Court had dismissed a plea filed by Anubhav to fast track his divorce petition. He was instead asked to make an appeal in a lower or the family court for the same.

The MP had accused his estranged wife of delaying the court’s proceedings by skipping the counselling sessions. He said that the mediation, which has been going on for almost six months, should be stopped as it has not been fruitful. He then moved the HC seeking an early hearing in the case.

Varsha’s lawyer R K Rath, however, accused him of overlooking the process of law and procedures of the court and misusing his power as an MP.

The goings have not been easy for Anubhav with his personal life under constant media scrutiny since September last year when Varsha filed a case accusing him of domestic abuse and demanding restoration of conjugal rights. That is when the media got the whiff about Anubhav having moved Delhi’s Patiala House on July 6, 2020, for divorce from Varsha on grounds of cruelty while claiming that the marriage between them has never been consummated.

On March 25, the Supreme Court, hearing a petition filed by Varsha, transferred the petition for dissolution of their marriage, solemnized on February 8, 2014, from Delhi to Cuttack.

The hearing in the case began on August 26.