The Madhya Pradesh Police on Wednesday challenged before the Kerala High Court the maintainability of the anticipatory bail plea moved by Kumbh Mela-fame Monalisa Bhosle and her husband, Farmaan Khan, in a criminal case filed in the state (MP) over allegations that Bhosle was a minor at the time of their marriage.
Representing the Madhya Pradesh Director General of Police, Additional Solicitor General of India (ASG) S.V. Raju argued that a regular anticipatory bail application is not maintainable in the Kerala High Court because the First Information Report (FIR) was registered in Madhya Pradesh
The ASG contended that under the Supreme Court precedent set in Priya Indoria v. State of Karnataka, regular anticipatory bail must be sought from a court within the state where the FIR is active. He argued that the petitioners can, at best, seek transit anticipatory bail from the Kerala High Court. “They can only apply for transit anticipatory bail, not regular anticipatory bail. He has to satisfy two things. One, why he has come before this Court and why he can’t go to the MP court. He must make out a case in the petition. Not a whisper in the entire plea why he can’t go to Madhya Pradesh,” he argued.
The ASG highlighted that the petition failed to state clear reasons why the couple could not approach the jurisdictional court in Madhya Pradesh, especially since they had already approached the MP High Court regarding an associated birth certificate dispute.
He was referring to a plea preferred by the couple before the Madhya Pradesh High Court alleging that her birth certificate was forged to criminalise their interfaith marriage. As per the petition before the MP High Court, the petitioner has sought directions to restore her birth certificate and to conduct an independent investigation into the forgery of government records.
The Court then orally suggested that an order can be passed protecting the petitioners from arrest until they approach the courts in Madhya Pradesh: “I’ll allow him to go to Madhya Pradesh and file anticipatory bail…They are entitled to the same.”
However, the ASG disagreed and reiterated that the present petition itself cannot be entertained since no pleadings were made to substantiate why this court is approached instead of the Madhya Pradesh courts.
The court noted that the MP government had not yet formally placed the copy of the FIR on the record. The couple’s defense counsel similarly stated they had been “kept in the dark” without a physical copy of the FIR.
The court orally told the petitioners’ counsel that he can substantiate the reasons for not approaching MP courts and said: “It is maintainability which is an issue. You relied on a 2010 division bench judgment of this Court. Now Priya Indoria has come…states that ordinarily, the anticipatory bail application will lie only in the Court of the State where the FIR is registered. In no circumstances, it will lie in a state or place where arrest is apprehended. But, on satisfaction of certain conditions, like why he could not approach the jurisdictional Court; two, what is the compelling reason he is coming here, etc. On satisfaction of these conditions, the Court can grant limited anticipatory bail, i.e., transit anticipatory bail to enable him to go there and approach…But you can substantiate.”
The case was then posted to May 29 for further consideration. The Court extended the order granting the couple interim protection from arrest until the adjourned date. The court had earlier passed an interim order staying their arrest until May 20.
Monalisa Bhosle achieved widespread social media fame as the “viral Kumbh Mela star”. In March 2026, she married Farmaan Khan in Kerala. Following the marriage, her family filed a complaint in Madhya Pradesh alleging abduction, claiming she was a 16-year-old minor. MP police subsequently registered a case under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
The couple maintains that Monalisa is an adult born on January 1, 2008, and that her family maliciously forged records to cancel her original birth certificate.