Kumbh fame Monalisa Bhosle gets relief as MP HC sets aside birth record change

The Madhya Pradesh High Court has set aside an order cancelling the birth certificate of Monalisa Bhosle, the young woman who became an internet sensation after videos of her selling rudraksha beads at the 2025 Prayag Maha Kumbh went viral.

The Indore Bench of the High Court, in an order passed on Wednesday, October 1, held that Monalisa was not given an opportunity to be heard before her birth record was changed. It directed the Chief Municipal Officer (CMO) of Maheshwar in Khargone district to reconsider the matter after giving her an effective opportunity to present her case.

The court, however, did not determine whether Monalisa was born in 2008 or 2009, which is at the heart of the legal dispute surrounding her marriage to actor Farman Khan. Instead, it set aside the cancellation order on the ground that it was passed without hearing the person directly affected by it.

“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 Gajendra Singh said.

The ruling comes months after Monalisa’s March 2026 marriage to Farman, a Muslim man from Uttar Pradesh, became the centre of a political and legal controversy involving allegations of “love jihad”, questions over her age, and an abduction case against her husband.

It also comes after a National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST) inquiry concluded that Monalisa was a minor at the time of the marriage, based on a hospital record from Madhya Pradesh that recorded her date of birth as December 30, 2009. Monalisa and Farman have disputed this, maintaining that she was born on January 1, 2008, as reflected in several government-issued documents.

TNM has previously reported in detail on the competing claims over Monalisa’s age, the birth records involving her and her family, and how her marriage became a political and legal flashpoint between Kerala and Madhya Pradesh.

In an exclusive interview with TNM, Monalisa and Farman also spoke about the legal battle, the alleged threats to their lives, and why Monalisa does not want to return to Madhya Pradesh.