Kochi: Actor Dileep moved to the Ernakulam Family Court on Thursday seeking a divorce from his actress wife Manju Warrier to end their marriage of 14 years.
The actor cited mental torture and cruelty as the main grounds for filing the plea.
According to legal sources, in the recent weeks the star couple had tried to reach an amicable settlement and file a mutual consent plea. Owing to differences of opinion over a number of issues, including ownership of property and the custody of the child, the chances of a mutual consent petition failed completely.
Fearing that Manju will file a plea before the Thrissur Family Court, Dileep had filed a caveat plea against the court passing any order without hearing him.
Dileep filed the plea under section 13(1) of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955. Family Court judge K. Mohandas considered the plea and issued notices to Manju Wairrer to appear before the court on June 23, the next sitting date.
The court allowed Dileep’s plea seeking permission to conduct the proceedings of the case in camera and passed an interim order in this regard to look into the matter.
Dileep submitted that “the matrimonial issue between Manju and myself are very personal matters. There is no necessity for the public to know the details of our marital issues. If the details of matrimonial issues are published, that will be highly embarrassing for us, our minor daughter, members of our families and all persons closely associated with us. There is every possibility that the media will report the contents of the petition and it will hamper our privacy strongly,” he said.
He further said that to protect the privacy, prevent trial by the media and for proper conduct of the proceedings, it was necessary to conduct the case in front of the camera and restrain the media from publishing the contents of the pleadings till the disposal of the case.
