MP High Court Sets Aside Monalisa Bhosle's Birth Record Change After Interfaith Marriage Row

New Delhi: The Madhya Pradesh high court on Wednesday set aside a municipal order, cancelling the birth certificate of Monalisa Bhosle, which was used to file a criminal case against her husband after their interfaith marriage in March this year.

Bhosle had first grabbed headlines during the 2025 Prayagraj Mahakumbh, when videos of her selling rudraksha beads at the religious gathering had gone viral.

High court order

The Indore bench of the MP high court in its order said that Bhosle was never heard before the order changing her date of birth was passed, the Indian Express reported. The cancellation of the original birth certificate had allowed her family to present her as a minor and register cases against her husband, Farman Khan.

“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.

While setting aside the order, passed by the Chief Municipal Officer, Maheshwar, in Khargone, the court directed the CMO to review Bhosle’s father’s application afresh “after affording the opportunity of effective hearing to the Petitioner No. 1 as per the law”, the paper reported.

Bhosle’s birth had initially been registered in June 2025 as January 1, 2008, based on an application by her parents. Her mother had also submitted an affidavit dated May 30, 2025.

After Bhosle’s marriage, her father informed the Block Medical Officer at the Community Health Centre in Maheshwar that she had instead been born at the facility on December 30, 2009. A certificate from the hospital was subsequently sent to the municipal registrar, who cancelled the earlier entry and recorded the new date.

According to court records mentioned in the report, the information regarding the change only went to Bhosle’s father and not to her. Notably, the court has not determined which date of birth is correct.“No school record appears to be available which could conveniently resolve the controversy regarding her actual date of birth,” the court said while adding that the issue has to reviewed afresh.

Senior Advocate Vivek Tankha, appearing for Bhosle, said, “Conversion was never an issue. They cancelled her birth certificate and issued a false one to declare her a minor and then create a case of kidnapping.”

The state, represented by Additional Solicitor General S.V. Raju, and Bhosle’s father had argued that the Madhya Pradesh Registration of Births and Deaths Rules, 2024 require information about such a change to be given only to the person who provided the original birth information, which in this case was her father.

The court rejected this argument, holding that since Bhosle was the affected person, informing only her father was insufficient.

The court also noted that an Aadhaar card issued on May 28, 2015 recorded Bhosle’s date of birth as January 1, 2008 and a PAN card was allotted to her on January 10, 2026.

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