Indore (Madhya Pradesh): The Madhya Pradesh High Court’s Indore bench has set aside an order correcting the date of birth of Monalisa Bhosle, who shot to fame as the 'Kumbh girl' during Mahakumbh 2025 in Prayagraj, holding that she was not allowed to be heard before the change was made.
Justice Gajendra Singh directed the chief municipal officer, Maheshwar, to decide afresh the application filed by Bhosle’s father after giving her an effective hearing.
The dispute arose after Bhosle married her co-actor in Kerala on Mar 11, 2026. Her birth certificate, issued on June 5, 2025, recorded her date of birth as Jan 1, 2008. Her Aadhaar, PAN and voter ID also reflected that date, according to the court order.
Her father subsequently approached authorities, claiming hospital records showed she was born on Dec 30, 2009. The municipal authority cancelled the earlier entry and corrected her date of birth. A criminal case was also registered against her partner.
Bhosle and her partner challenged the correction, alleging it was made without notice to her. The respondents maintained that the correction was based on contemporaneous Community Health Centre records and was lawful.
The court observed that changing Bhosle’s date of birth postponed her majority by nearly two years, affecting significant civil rights, including voting, independently operating bank accounts, entering contracts and exercising personal choice in marriage.
It held that merely intimating her father did not satisfy the principle of 'audi alteram partem', which requires an affected person to be allowed to be heard.
The court set aside the Mar 31 correction order and directed the authority to reconsider the father’s application after hearing Bhosle in accordance with law.
