The Supreme Court on Friday indicated it would formally dissolve the marriage of Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and his estranged wife, Payal Abdullah, after the two informed the bench they had reached a mutual settlement and wished to end their marriage.
The case had reached India’s apex court after Omar Abdullah contested the Delhi High Court’s earlier refusal to grant him a divorce. During the proceedings, both parties jointly moved an application seeking dissolution of the marriage by mutual consent.
As part of the settlement, the couple also agreed to withdraw all litigation pending against one another.
Omar and Payal were married in 1994, having met while both worked at The Oberoi hotel in Delhi. They share two sons, Zahir and Zamir. The two have lived apart since 2009, and Omar first spoke publicly about the separation in 2011, marking the effective end of their 17-year marital tie.
Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal, representing the couple, told the bench of Justice PS Narasimha and Justice Alok Aradhe that the two had “embraced freedom.” He noted that they had filed an application under Article 142 of the Constitution earlier in the month, seeking dissolution by mutual consent. Justice Narasimha responded that the court would issue appropriate orders.
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“We will dispose of it in terms of that,” the bench said.
At an earlier hearing, the court had noted that the couple had been living apart for roughly 16 years and called their relationship “a dead marriage.”
Omar had originally sought a divorce on grounds of desertion and cruelty, but a family court rejected his petition in 2016, ruling that he had not established an irretrievable breakdown of the marriage. The court also found his cruelty allegations vague and unproven.
He subsequently appealed to the Delhi High Court, which in December 2023 upheld the family court’s ruling, finding no merit in his case. The High Court had also ordered Omar to pay Rs 1.5 lakh a month in maintenance to Payal, along with Rs 60,000 monthly toward one son’s education expenses.
With both sides now having reached an amicable resolution and agreeing to drop all pending cases, the Supreme Court said it would settle the matter according to the terms of the settlement and grant the divorce using its powers under Article 142 of the Constitution.