HC speeds up Chahal’s divorce, in light of IPL

MUMBAI: Acknowledging Yuzvendra Chahal’s participation in the upcoming Indian Premier League, the Bombay high court on Wednesday allowed a plea filed by the cricketer and his estranged wife Dhanashree Verma to waive off the mandatory six-month cooling off period before divorce. Noting that the couple had been living separately for over two and a half years, the single-judge bench of justice Madhav Jamdar waived off the cooling period and issued a direction to the family court at Bandra to decide on the couple’s divorce before the start of the IPL. Chahal and Verma had filed a joint petition for divorce by mutual consent on February 5 before the family court. However, the court on February 20 had refused to entertain the waiving of the cooling period, considering the statutory provisions, which sets a mandatory six-month cooling-off period to be followed by couples seeking divorce under the provisions of the Hindu Marriage Act.