Cuttack court dismisses domestic violence plea of Varsha against Anubhav

Cuttack: A Cuttack court on Friday dismissed the domestic violence plea filed by actress Varsha Priyadarshini against her former husband and ex-MP Anubhav Mohanty.

The marriage between Anubhav (43) and Varsha (40) was solemnised on Feb 8, 2014. The actor-turned politician had sought divorce from his wife on grounds of cruelty on July 16, 2020 while contending that their marriage had not been consummated. Varsha subsequently filed a petition under the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act on Sept 7, 2020. While the domestic violence petition was pending in the lower court, the Orissa high court ordered dissolution of their marriage on Dec 21, 2023.

In her petition, Varsha had alleged that she was unable to lead a peaceful conjugal life owing to mental harassment and mental torture by Anubhav. Varsha had also sought direction to Anubhav to provide the right to residence in a shared household or pay Rs 20,000 for house/residence rent, Rs 50,000 maintenance per month, compensation of Rs 13 crore and Rs 2 crore towards loss of earning and medical expenses.

However, in her order on Friday, civil judge (junior division), Jaya Ray, said, "The aggrieved person (Varsha) has failed to justify the reason for filing the present case as she has failed to establish any kind of ‘torture' inflicted upon her by the respondent (Anubhav) during her stay at her matrimonial home in order to substantiate the allegation of ‘domestic violence' under Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act."

"The petitioner is not only a qualified lady but has been working even at the time of her marriage and thereafter. The documents and admissions made by the petitioner clearly leads to an irresistible conclusion that she is self employed and in addition to being qualified, she has been working as a lead actress in the Ollywood film industry," the court further said.

The judge ruled that Varsha is "not entitled to get any monetary relief" as she is "self-sufficient to maintain herself" and she failed to prove any losses suffered by her.

While dismissing Varsha's petition for being "devoid of merit", the judge further observed, "Her statements are self-contradictory to each other and it shows that the domestic violence (DV) application is an after thought outcome and counter blast which was filed after knowing that her husband has filed a divorce case for which she felt hurt and bad."