Yuzvendra Chahal To Pay Estranged Wife Dhanashree Verma Rs 4.75 Crore Alimony: Report

A key development has emerged in the divorce proceedings of Indian cricketer Yuzvendra Chahal and his estranged wife, Dhanashree Verma.

The Bombay High Court has permitted the couple to waive the mandatory six-month cooling-off period following their divorce.

The court has directed the family court to finalise their divorce plea by March 20, considering Chahal's participation in the 2025 Indian Premier League (IPL) season, which begins on March 22.

Legal news platform Bar and Bench shared on X: "Bombay High Court has overturned a Family Court decision that denied the request to waive the statutory cooling-off period for the divorce of cricketer Yuzvendra Chahal and Dhanashree Verma under the Hindu Marriage Act. A bench of Justice Madhav Jamdar has also directed the family court to decide the divorce petition by tomorrow, given Chahal's involvement in the upcoming IPL."

The couple, who married in December 2020, have been living separately since June 2022. They only filed for divorce in February this year at the Bandra Family Court, along with an application to waive the cooling-off period.

As per Section 13B(2) of the Hindu Marriage Act, a family court can only consider a mutual divorce petition after six months from the date of filing. This period allows the couple an opportunity to reconcile. However, given that Chahal and Dhanashree had been apart for over two years, the Bombay High Court deemed the cooling-off requirement unnecessary.

The petition was filed under Section 13B of the Hindu Marriage Act, which allows for divorce by mutual consent.

The case became more complex when, on February 20, the family court refused to waive the six-month period due to partial compliance with the consent terms agreed upon by Chahal and Dhanashree.

Under these terms, Chahal had agreed to pay a permanent alimony of ₹4.75 crore to Verma. However, he had only paid ₹2.37 crore so far. The court considered the pending payment as non-compliance and initially rejected the waiver request.

The family court's decision was based on a report from the family counsellor, which highlighted the non-compliance issue.

However, on Wednesday, the Bombay High Court ruled that since the couple had already been living apart for over two and a half years, compliance with the consent terms could be considered satisfactory. The ruling also accounted for the pending payment.

The family court has now been instructed to reach a decision on the divorce petition by Thursday, March 20, in light of Chahal's IPL commitments.