Thereafter followed a legal battle with the adversaries, with suits filed by Priya Nath in various courts, including a defamation suit, against those who had sought to put a slur on Shri Nathji’s life and mission.
Years later, in 1983, in the Supreme Court of India, Shri Nathji’s honour was vindicated when an apology was offered for the horrible character assassination in the newspapers. However, it took years and years of legal battles before Priya Nath was able to accomplish this. He had refused to end the litigation and said he would fight all his life in the courts until the apology was offered. It was the least Priya Nath could do for Shri Nathji.
Priya Nath knew that the life of Shri Nathji would remain in danger from communal elements for as long as he sought to preserve his marriage. And therefore he decided to bring it to an end in an honourable way. A divorce was obtained with mutual consent.
And yet years of precious time had been lost, time which could have been better devoted to Shri Nathji’s work. The forces of darkness had achieved at least a part of their sinister purpose, though they were defeated at the end.
Mahamateshwari used to say to Shri Nathji:
“Ramji ne Ravana ko to maar diyaa magar apnaa ghar bhee tabaah karvaa liyaa! Even though Rama destroyed Ravana, but he allowed his own home to be ruined as well!”
During the years that these legal battles lasted there was a continuous strain on the health and well being of Priya Nath as well as Shri Nathji who had to devote a lot of time and effort to these matters.
1979 was a bad year all round. During the same month the landlord of the Delhi house of Shri Nathji filed a suit for eviction against Priya Nath. There was no alternative but to fight the suit because they had no other place to live in Delhi.
Although devotees suggested giving up Delhi altogether and living in Nagpur, yet Shri Nathji and Priya Nath could not even think of leaving Delhi, as it was the only place from where Mussoorie was easily accessible.
They had been living there continuously since 1970 and had been going to Mussoorie from there frequently over the years, and it was unthinkable to quit Delhi for any reason whatsoever.