The Supreme Court has dissolved the marriage of an estranged couple whose relationship turned bitter over a rare 1951 Rolls Royce, once ordered by former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru for the Maharani of Baroda.
A bench of Justices Surya Kant, Joymalya Bagchi, and Vipul M. Pancholi recorded the settlement between the parties, under which the husband agreed to pay ₹2.25 crore to his wife in full and final settlement of all claims. “We dissolve the marriage between the petitioner and respondent No.1 (husband). There shall be no relationship, matrimonial or otherwise, between them hitherto,” the bench said in its August 29 order.
As per the arrangement, the husband will pay ₹1 crore by August 31 and the balance ₹1.25 crore by November 30. The woman will retain all gifts received from her husband, while the husband will return items like the engagement ring and other valuables along with the first payment. The court also quashed all pending cases between them and cautioned both parties against defaming each other, including on social media.
The woman, a resident of Gwalior from a family claiming lineage to an admiral in Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj’s navy, alleged that her husband and in-laws had persistently demanded the prized Rolls Royce and a Mumbai flat as dowry. She argued that the handmade Rolls Royce by H.J. Mulliner & Co., valued at over ₹2.5 crore today, became the focal point of harassment.
Her plea before the Supreme Court stated that the husband and his father had a “fascination” for the vintage car owned by her family, and the refusal to part with it led to the breakdown of the marriage. The husband, who runs an educational institution in Madhya Pradesh and comes from a family of Army officers, denied the allegations.
the Madhya Pradesh High Court (Gwalior bench) quashed the woman’s dowry and cruelty case against her husband. The husband, in turn, had filed a cheating and forgery case against his wife and her relatives regarding the marriage certificate.
In an earlier bid to resolve the dispute, the Supreme Court had appointed senior advocate and former Kerala High Court judge R. Basant as mediator. With the settlement now recorded and the marriage dissolved, the top court has drawn a close to the highly unusual matrimonial conflict centred around a vintage automobile.
