By Our Correspondent
NEW DELHI/BHUBANESWAR: Senior Advocate appearing for BJD’s Kendrapara Lok Sabha MP, Anubhav Mohanty, on Friday informed the a bench of Justice Hrishikesh Roy of the Supreme Court, that transfer plea filed by MP’s estranged wife Varsha Priyadarshini, was premature. Reacting to SC order , Anubhav Mohanty tweeted @AnubhavMohanty_ “Jai Jagannath with Folded hands,” while Varsha Priyadarshi flooded birth day wishes for Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik in her latest tweets@VarshaPriyadar3.
Dubey told the bench that Varsha is entitled for business class ticket she has been staying in Delhi is a film star and is financially sound. The BJD Lok Sabha MP’s counsel further submitted that the aged parents of Mohanty are critically ill and the transfer will affect their health. She is a successful actor, producer, social worker and keeps travelling extensively across the India. MP Mohanty had approached the Apex Court by way of a caveat petition seeking its side to be presented before the court passed any order in the transfer petition.
It may be noted here that Patiala House Court which was slated to hear the petition fild by Mohanty against Varsha on December 7, was stayed for the time being till further orders of the Apex Court of the matter.
“These are two high profile personalities from the film industry… One is having political life and it will be better if possibility of settlement is explored. We are issuing notice on the plea and meanwhile, (you) go for the mediation,” the bench said. The court asked the couple to go to the Supreme Court”s mediation centre to explore the possibilities of the settlement. Priyadarshini, in her plea, said the divorce plea be transferred from the Patiala House courts here to a family court in Cuttack on the ground that she cannot travel to Delhi due to COVID-19 situation.
Priyadarshini, who had married Mohanty in 2014, has filed a case seeking maintenance from her estranged husband in a Sub Divisional Judicial Magistrate court in Cuttack. She has also filed a case against Mohanty under the Protection Of Women From Domestic Violence (DV) Act.
“The court referred the matter to the mediation centre while issuing notice and granting stay order for further proceeding in the Patiala House Court. The notice has been issued to Anubhav Mohanty and Patiala House Court to stay the divorce proceeding,” informed Advocate Krishna Kumar, Varsha’s counsel appearing in the court. “Neither there is a single male member in Varsha’s family nor has she enough money to frequently visit Delhi for the divorce case. Before listening to any argument of counsels from both the sides, the Supreme Court termed it a ‘high-profile’ case and advised them to settle the dispute by finding a mutually agreed solution,” said Varsha’s lawyer Goutam Bhola.
Recently, the Sub-Divisional Judicial Magistrate (SDJM) Court in Cuttack had served a notice to BJD MP Anubhav Mohanty for his reply in connection with the domestic violence case lodged by his wife Varsha. The hearing of the case has been scheduled on November 12.
