The Supreme Court on Friday, July 31, agreed to dissolve the marriage of Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah with his estranged wife Payal Abdullah after taking note of their submissions that they have “embraced freedom”.The high court upheld the 2016 family court order refusing to grant a decree of divorce to him. On August 30, 2016, the family court dismissed Omar Abdullah’s plea, holding that he could not prove his claims of “cruelty” or “desertion” which were the grounds alleged by him for seeking a decree of divorce. In his plea seeking divorce, Omar Abdullah claimed before the family court that his marriage had broken down irretrievably and he had not enjoyed a conjugal relationship since 2007 and that the couple, married on September 1, 1994, was living separately since 2009. The petition before the trial court also alleged that Omar Abdullah was subjected to “unreasonable conduct” by Payal, causing pain and harassment to the politician. In August 2023, a single-judge bench of the Delhi High Court directed Omar Abdullah to pay Rs 1.5 lakh as monthly interim maintenance to his estranged wife. He was also ordered to pay Rs 60,000 every month for the education of each of their two sons. The high court’s order had come on the petitions filed by Payal Abdullah and the couple’s sons against the 2018 lower court orders granting her and them interim maintenance of Rs 75,000 and Rs 25,000 till they attained the age of majority, respectively.