Manolya Onur, former Miss Turkey, won a decade-long legal battle against her former husband and former eighth Nizam of Hyderabad, Prince Mukarram Jah.
District and Sessions Judge of the Hyderabad family court on Monday, pronouncing the judgment in a petition filed by Manolya, ordered the prince to pay compensation amounting to approximately $ 3 million to Manolya and their 15-year-old daughter Nilofer Jah. Manolya was the prince's third wife.
Judge Radhakrishnaiah ordered Nawab Mir Barkat Ali Khan aka Prince Mukarram Jah to pay $ 700,000 towards divorce settlement with six percent interest from April 1996. The prince has also been ordered to repay a loan of $ 300,000 that he had taken from Manolya with six percent interest from 1995 till date.
The judge also directed the prince to pay maintenance at the rate of $ 5,000 per month each to his former wife and daughter from April 1996 onwards. Similarly, the judge ordered the prince to pay $ 5,000 per month towards rent from April 1996 and arrears of $ 28,000 to Manolya. The Prince had promised to provide a house or a flat to his ex-wife but did not do so.
The overall package reportedly comes to a whopping $3 million. Manolya, in her petition, had demanded a compensation of $ 4.5 million. She had also demanded that Chiran Palace, the imposing mansion of the prince in Hyderabad, be handed over to her since the prince had promised to gift the palace to their daughter Nilofer. However, the judge rejected her demand for the palace, which is currently worth Rs 400 crore.
The Court ruled that Chiran Palace, Chow Mohalla Palace and Falaknuma Palace in Hyderabad as well as Cedar Palace in Ooty, owned by the prince, cannot be sold till the compensation is paid to Manolya. If the government acquires these properties, it would have to pay the compensation amount to Manolya.
Manolya had filed her petition in the family court in April 1996, three years after their divorce.
Manolya's general power of attorney welcomed the verdict and she said that Manolya's faith in the Indian legal system has been vindicated. She expressed the view that the prince might go in for appeal against the court's judgment.