Indian tennis great Leander Paes recently approached a Mumbai sessions court in an appeal against a metropolitan magistrate court’s order in February which said he had caused various acts of domestic violence to his former partner Rhea Pillai.
Paes was also directed by the court to pay monthly maintenance of Rs 1 lakh to Pillai and monthly rent of Rs 50,000 if she left their shared residence. His plea seeks the quashing and setting aside of the February order and a stay on it in the interim till his appeal is decided. The plea is likely to come up for hearing next week. Pillai filed a plea in the court under the Domestic Violence Act in 2014, alleging that she was subjected to domestic violence by Paes, who she was in a relationship with since 2003 and was living with him from 2005-06.
Paes in his appeal has said that his apartment is mortgaged and he is unable to take care of Pillai’s financial demands. He alleged that he had been taking care of his daughter’s financial responsibilities, while Pillai “splurged on herself”. His plea also states while Pillai had received two flats from actor Sanjay Dutt as part of their divorce settlement, she chose to continue to live in their shared residence, burdening him financially. Before the magistrate court, Paes had submitted that Pillai’s plea was not maintainable under the Act since she was still married to Dutt when they began living together and only got divorced from her previous marriage in 2008. Paes is currently dating actress Kim Sharma.