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In a significant development, Indian cricketer Shikhar Dhawan has been granted divorce from his estranged wife, Ayesha Mukherjee, on the grounds of ‘cruelty’ by the Delhi Family Court. Notably, Dhawan and Ayesha tied the knot in 2012 and were together for almost nine years before separating in August 2020.
The divorce decree
The divorce to the couple was granted by Judge Harish Kumar, who accepted the mental cruelty allegations made by Dhawan. He even stated that the couple’s marriage had been ‘dead long ago’ in his ruling.
It is worth mentioning that Ayesha is 12 years older than the Indian cricketer and has two daughters from her first marriage to an Australian businessman. Meanwhile, she also has a son named Zorawar with Dhawan. But after their separation, Ayesha resides in Australia with her two daughters and son.
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Delhi family court accepts Dhawan’s ‘cruelty’ allegations on Ayesha
The court even noted that Ayesha’s intentional decision to leave the matter uncontested indicated her desire for the court to grant the divorce, even if it meant holding her guilty of matrimonial offences. The court reasoned that she believed no harm would come to her as she had already obtained favourable orders from the Federal Circuit and Family Court in Australia.
“Respondent’s/ estranged wife intentional decision to leave this matter uncontested also shows her desire that the court should pass decree of divorce even at the cost of holding her guilty of the matrimonial offence as she knows that no harm could be caused to her even if she is held to have treated the petitioner with cruelty because she has already obtained sufficient favourable orders from the Federal Circuit and Family Court in Australia,” said the court.
Visitation rights and custody
While the family court did not pass any order on the permanent custody of their Zorawar, it did grant visitation rights to Dhawan. The court said that he has the right to meet his son for an appropriate duration in both India and Australia and maintain contact with him via video calls and ordered Ayesha to bring Zorawar to India for visitation purposes as well.
Dhawan’s India career
On the professional front, Dhawan has not been part of India’s national set-up for quite some time now, which clearly reflects the challenges he has faced both on and off the cricket pitch.
