New Delhi: Monalisa Bhonsle, whose videos selling rudraksha necklaces at the Maha Kumbh Mela in Prayagraj in January 2025 went viral on social media, has approached the Madhya Pradesh HC along with her husband alleging that the state falsified her birth records to show that she was a minor when she married her Muslim husband.
Speaking to ThePrint, Advocate-on-Record Subhash Chandran who is appearing for Monalisa said, “Monalisa is an actress who had gone to Kerala to shoot for her film. Her now husband, Farman Khan, who is a Muslim, proposed marriage to her during her trip to Kerala, and the two got married in March, this year.”
Chandran told ThePrint that Monalisa’s father complained to the Madhya Pradesh police, alleging that she was missing. The advocate added that certain right-wing activists had also raised complaints against the husband because he was a Muslim.
“Although the Kerala police verified Monalisa’s documents, such as her Aadhar card, PAN card, and voter ID, and confirmed her age as above 18 years, given that she was born on 1 January 2008. The Madhya Pradesh government arbitrarily cancelled her birth certificate,” Chandran said.
The Madhya Pradesh police has also lodged an FIR against Monalisa’s husband, alleging that he married a minor, the lawyer told ThePrint. Chandran added that the Kerala HC had also granted protection to the couple, and said that no coercive action must be taken against them.
“Our main grievance is that despite the Kerala HC’s protection order, the Madhya Pradesh HC went ahead and cancelled her birth certificate, without giving her an opportunity of hearing,” he told ThePrint.
Monalisa’s plea
Seeking to restore her original birth certificate, Monalisa approached the Madhya Pradesh HC. In her plea she also sought a fair and independent investigation into the alleged criminal conspiracy, forgery of government records and the submission of forged documents before the court and other authorities, besides the alleged attempts to rake up communal tension by all this.
Monalisa’s petition claims she is an adult. Citing a chain of official and valid government records that she possesses, Monalisa argued that each official document had the same birth date, which was 1 January 2008.
Not only this, Monalisa also said these documents were verified by the Kerala Police at Thampanoor police station in March this year, through official government portals, in the presence of her father. At that time, however, her father made no objections to the authenticity of the documents or her age, Monalisa said.
Both Monalisa and her husband Farman are adults of sound mind and chose to enter into a relationship while she was shooting for Malayalam film ‘Nagamma’ in Kerala, the plea said.
Pointing out that her father had compelled her to return to MP and marry her cousin instead, Monalisa said that she had to face coercion and threats. All of this led her to approach the Kerala police, and file a complaint against her father.
Problems after the wedding
After the wedding, the petitioner’s father, in collusion with his “co-conspirators”, set into motion a “calculated and malicious design” to portray her as a minor, and to criminalise her lawful marriage, the plea said.
They had also circulated false and inflammatory propaganda through social media and branded her a terrorist, while attempting to communalise her otherwise lawful marriage with labels such as “love jihad”, she told the court.
To further this conspiracy, birth records were manipulated through wrongful substitution of entries, she said. This was done in order to falsely change her birth year to 2009, instead of 2008, which would make her 17.
Without any notice, Monalisa’s genuine birth certificate was cancelled in the government portal, without any authority of law or notice to her, and in complete disregard for established procedure, she said.
The plea alleged that based on these “forged documents”, an FIR was lodged at the Maheshwar police station in MP, falsely stating that Monalisa had been kidnapped. Terming this as an abuse of the criminal process, she added that it was an exercise to harass, intimidate and criminally prosecute her.
Apprehending arrest in the FIR, Monalisa had to approach the Kerala HC as well, in order to seek anticipatory bail. On 23 March, the Kerala HC granted her temporary or interim protection from arrest.
Monalisa also said that she made a separate complaint before the Director General of Kerala police for offences like forgery of public records, criminal conspiracy and tampering of government records along with communal incitement. An FIR was also registered at the Ernakulam police station.
Recalling the Supreme Court’s 2006 ruling in Lata Singh vs. State of UP, Bhonsle argued that the right of a major individual to choose a life partner is an inseparable part of Article 21 (right to life), and cannot be curtailed by family members, community pressure or societal hostility.
(Edited by Viny Mishra)
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