Tennis player Leander Paes's former live-in partner Rhea Pillai on Thursday opposed his plea for “condonation of delay” in filing an appeal against a magistrate's court's order in a domestic violence case filed by her. In February this year, the Bandra metropolitan magistrate's court held that Paes, an Olympics bronze medal winner, had committed various acts of domestic violence against Pillai.
It also directed him to pay her monthly maintenance amount of Rs 1 lakh to Pillai, the mother of his daughter, along with monthly rent of Rs 50,000 on the condition that she left his flat on Carter Road. The former tennis player moved the sessions court here in November seeking quashing of the magistrate's order. He also prayed for condonation of delay in filing appeal as the magistrate's court had passed the order on February 11, 2022.
In her reply filed through advocate Sana Usman, Pillai said the condonation of delay plea was “devoid of any substantial and genuine grounds”. The statutory period for filing appeal is 30 days under section 29 of the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005, the reply said. Paes had been travelling with his current girlfriend Kim Sharma to various holiday destinations and social events during the seven months when he failed to move the court, it alleged.
It also claimed that Paes's claim that he was busy taking care of his father was false. “...the applicant has submitted medical records of his father of the year 2020 wherein Leander Paes was attending trial court proceedings on a regular basis and is using his father's previous medical records to support a false claim to justify the delay,” Pillai's reply said. The sessions court will hear the matter further on January 12, 2023.
