Published Oct 01, 2026 | 7:48 PM ⚊ Updated Oct 01, 2026 | 7:48 PM
Synopsis: The Madhya Pradesh High Court has set aside a municipal order cancelling Monalisa Bhosle’s birth certificate following her interfaith marriage in March 2026. The cancellation resulted in her being treated as a minor and led to criminal cases being registered against her husband. The court said the authorities had altered her birth record without giving her an opportunity to be heard and directed them to reconsider the matter. Monalisa had earlier sought police protection in Kerala, saying her family opposed her relationship with Farman Khan and had threatened her.
The Madhya Pradesh High Court on Thursday, 1 October, set aside a municipal order cancelling the birth certificate of Monalisa Bhosle, who first shot to fame during the 2025 Prayagraj Kumbh Mela after going viral on social media, The Indian Express reported.
The order followed her interfaith marriage in March 2026 and resulted in her being treated as a minor at the time of the marriage. The altered birth record was subsequently used to register criminal cases against her husband.
A division bench of the High Court’s Indore Bench, headed by Justice Gajendra Singh, held that the municipal authorities had changed her birth record without giving her an opportunity to explain her case.
Monalisa married Farman Khan in March 2026.
The court set aside the order passed by the Chief Municipal Officer, Maheshwar, in Khargone district, and directed the officer to reconsider an application filed by Monalisa’s father after giving her an “effective hearing”.
“It is, thus, trite that any action prejudicial to a citizen, which is taken by the State or public authority without affording him an opportunity of being heard, would be unfair and arbitrary,” Justice Singh said.
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Monalisa’s birth was initially registered in June 2025 as January 1, 2008, based on an application submitted by her parents. The court noted that the registration was supported by an affidavit submitted by her mother on May 30, 2025.
After Monalisa’s marriage, her father told the Block Medical Officer at the Community Health Centre in Maheshwar that she had actually been born there on December 30, 2009. The hospital certificate was then sent to the municipal registrar, who cancelled the earlier entry and recorded the new date.
The court records showed that the intimation of the change was sent to her father, but not to Monalisa.
Her lawyers produced identity documents, including an Aadhaar card and voter ID, showing January 1, 2008 as her date of birth. The court also noted that an Aadhaar card issued on May 28, 2015, recorded January 1, 2008, while a PAN was allotted to her on January 10, 2026.
The court did not decide which of the two dates is correct. It noted that “no school record appears to be available which could conveniently resolve the controversy regarding her actual date of birth”. The issue will now have to be determined afresh by the registrar.
The State and Monalisa’s father had argued that the Madhya Pradesh Registration of Births and Deaths Rules, 2024 required the authorities to intimate only the person who had provided the information about the birth – in this case, her father.
The High Court rejected that argument in the circumstances of the case.
“when Petitioner No. 1 is the aggrieved, then intimation only to the father does not satisfy the requirement of ‘audi alteram partem’,” the court said.
Justice Singh found the timing of the petition filed by her father suspect, observing that he had “moved earth and heaven only after Petitioner Number 1 exercised her right of personal choice and chose to marry Petitioner Number 2.”
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Monalisa married Farman Khan in March 2026. The subsequent change in her recorded date of birth meant that she was treated as a minor when they married, following which criminal cases were registered against Farman.
Monalisa later approached the Thampanoor police in Thiruvananthapuram with Farman, seeking protection from opposition to their relationship. She told the police that her father, Jai Singh Bhosle, opposed the relationship and had allegedly threatened her.
According to the police, Monalisa and Farman had been in a relationship for about one-and-a-half years after meeting through Facebook. The couple travelled to Kerala because they feared opposition from their families.
After an argument with her father in Ernakulam, she travelled by train to Thiruvananthapuram with Farman and approached the police. She told the police that she wanted to live with Farman but was not ready to file a formal complaint against her father.
(Edited by Dese Gowda)
