New Delhi:

The Supreme Court has stayed a Delhi High Court order granting divorce to celebrity chef Kunal Kapur after his estranged wife moved the top court.

A Bench of Justices Hrishikesh Roy and SVN Bhatti, while staying the divorce yesterday, referred the case to the Supreme Court Mediation Centre for exploring the possibility of settlement.

The Delhi High Court had granted divorce to Mr Kapur in April this year on the grounds of cruelty meted out to him by his estranged wife, saying the woman’s conduct towards him was “devoid of dignity and empathy.”

“In the light of the aforenoted facts of the present case, we find that the conduct of the respondent (wife) towards the appellant (husband) has been such that it is devoid of dignity and empathy towards him.

“When such is the nature of one spouse towards the other, it brings disgrace to the very essence of marriage and there exists no possible reason as to why he should be compelled to live while enduring the agony of living together,” the high court had said.

The couple got married in April 2008. They have a son who was born to them in 2012.

In his plea, Kunal Kapur, who was a judge in television show “MasterChef India”, had accused his wife of not respecting his parents and humiliating him.

The woman, meanwhile, accused him of making false allegations to mislead the court