A metropolitan magistrate’s court in Mumbai has held that tennis player Leander Paes committed various acts of domestic violence against ex-partner model-actor Rhea Pillai. It has directed Paes to pay a monthly rent of Rs 50,000 apart from monthly maintenance of Rs 1 lakh to Pillai, if the she chose to leave their shared residence.

In 2014, Rhea approached the court seeking relief under the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, saying she was in a live-in relationship, akin to marriage, with Paes for eight years.
She said that Paes caused verbal, emotional and economic abuse, which resulted in tremendous emotional violence and trauma”.

“Considering the facts admitted by (Paes)… it can be said that (Pillai) succeeded in proving allegations constituting emotional and economic violence… burden shifts on (Paes) to prove counter,” the court said.

However, rather than denying the allegations, Paes preferred to justify facts by putting forward his own version about every aspect, including desertion, adultery, non-payment of expenses, hacking of computer, and presence of other people in the house.

“The proceedings are of summary nature. The test to be applied is preponderance of probabilities or below than that. No strict proof of each and every aspect is required beyond reasonable doubt,” it said. It said with Paes’s career “almost over”, it would cause “serious prejudice” to order him to live in a rented home while also paying maintenance to Pillai.