In a legal breakthrough, the Bombay High Court has granted permission to Indian cricketer Yuzvendra Chahal and his estranged wife Dhanashree Verma to forego the six-month cooling-off period required in their mutual divorce petition. The court ordered the Bandra Family Court to hear the divorce petition on or before March 20, keeping in mind Chahal’s future commitments for the Indian Premier League (IPL).

Bombay High Court Overturns Family Court Decision

The order was made after the Family Court had initially refused the couple’s application to waive the statutory cooling-off period of the Hindu Marriage Act. A bench headed by Justice Madhav Jamdar, however, reversed the order, accepting that Chahal and Verma had been staying apart for more than two and a half years.

Marriage and Divorce Proceedings

Yuzvendra Chahal and Dhanashree Verma, who were married in December 2020, have been separated since June 2022. Their joint divorce plea was submitted on February 5, 2025, under Section 13B of the Hindu Marriage Act. The couple had also submitted a plea to exempt the six-month statutory cooling period to speed up the process.

But on February 20, the Family Court rejected granting the waiver citing partial non-adherence to terms of consent accepted by the couple. According to the contract, Chahal had agreed to giving Rs 4.75 crore as permanent alimony to Verma. Whereas Rs 2.37 crore was already given, the pending amount was treated by the Family Court as non-compliance.

In spite of the order of the Family Court, the Bombay High Court observed that the couple had already been separated for a considerable period and upheld the enforceability of the consent terms, taking into account provisions for the balance payment. Therefore, the High Court granted the waiver and ordered the Family Court to finalize the proceedings by March 20.

This is a key decision in the proceedings of the finalizing of Chahal’s divorce and allays his worry of having the legal obstacle before him.