Leander Paes Found Guilty Of Domestic Violence

Metropolitan magistrate court in Mumbai has found tennis star Leander Paes of committing various acts of domestic violence against Rhea.

Rhea Pillai is the ex-wife of Sanjay Dutt. She married Sanjay Dutt in 1998 but separated after a few years but were officially divorced in 2008. While she was married to him, she had started dating tennis star Leander Paes in 2003. Leander and Rhea were in a live-in relationship. There were many rumours that they had got married between 2005 and 2008 at Colaba. While there is no strong evidence to confirm their wedding, they have a daughter together named Aiyana. However, in June 2014, Rhea had filed a domestic violence case against Leander and his father and had demanded the custody of their daughter.  In her complaint, Rhea claimed that Leander  through his acts and conduct "caused verbal, emotional and economic abuse, which resulted in tremendous emotional violence and trauma". In 2016, it was reported that their daughter, Aiyana, was diagnosed with a brain tumour and Rhea wanted Leander to pay Rs. 1.87 lakh for their daughter's medical expenses and Rs. 75,000 for herself - totaling to 2.62 lakh per month. In 2017, it was reported that Leander Paes was paying Rs. 1.5 lakh per month. Instead of reconciling after their daughter's medical condition, Leander and Rhea both had continued their legal battle, and the case had taken new twists and turns. Now, finally, the court has given the verdict in their domestic violence case. A Metropolitan magistrate court in Mumbai passed the order that Leander had committed various acts of domestic violence against Rhea. The order was passed early this month but was made available only last week. The magistrate Komalsing Rajput said, "It is proved that the Leander caused various acts of domestic violence.”

The court ordered Leander to pay a monthly rent of Rs. 50,000 and a monthly maintenance of Rs. 1 lakh to Rhea. This will be paid if Rhea chooses to leave their shared property. However, if she chooses to continue living in their shared residence at Bandra, she will not be entitled to monetary relief. This is because Leander’s career in tennis is ‘almost over’, so it would be unfair to order him to live in a rented home while paying maintenance to Rhea. Laender Paes is currently dating actor Kim Sharma and they keep expressing their love for each other on social media. 

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