Monalisa Missing? — Fact Check
The marriage of Monalisa Bhosle and Farman Khan has turned into a political flashpoint between two states. The controversy, which began with a dispute over documents proving Monalisa’s age, has since been compounded by a flood of misinformation and hate propaganda. Fake videos circulating on social media — purportedly featuring Farman — are further stoking communal hostility. As is typical, propagandists aligned with Sangh Parivar politics appear to be driving this disinformation campaign.
Monalisa, a young woman from Madhya Pradesh who rose to public attention during the Kumbh Mela, has been unable to escape the controversy surrounding her marriage to Farman Khan. The situation grew more complicated when the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST) initiated legal proceedings based on allegations that Monalisa was a minor at the time of marriage. Accusations of “love jihad,” hate campaigns, and fake news continue to spread across social media. Significant efforts are also being made to put the CPM and the Kerala government on the defensive — for having facilitated the wedding and provided shelter to the couple. Allegations have gone as far as claiming that the Kerala government aided and abetted a “child marriage.” There are visible, deliberate attempts to turn this into a political controversy.
OBC (the publication) is examining two specific questions: Is there credible evidence to support the claim that Monalisa Bhosle was a minor at the time of marriage? And are the news reports and visuals circulating about Monalisa and her husband Farman actually true?
The Birth Certificate Controversy
The latest wave of controversy began when the Madhya Pradesh government cancelled Monalisa’s birth certificate weeks after the couple’s wedding. Monalisa and Farman Khan were married on March 11 of this year at the Arumanooru Sri Nainar Deva Temple in Thiruvananthapuram.
According to the birth certificate submitted to the government for marriage registration, Monalisa was born on January 1, 2008 — a date that also appears on her Aadhaar card. This would mean she had turned 18 by the time of the marriage.
However, the NCST’s intervention reignited the dispute. Monalisa was born in the Parthi tribal community in Maheshwar, a town in Madhya Pradesh. The birth certificate authenticated by the Maheshwar Municipal Council was the document she submitted to prove her age at the time of marriage.
The NCST, however, concluded that this certificate was incorrect. According to the Commission, Monalisa was actually born at the Government Medical College in Maheshwar, and hospital records indicate her birth was registered at 5:50 PM on December 30, 2009. The NCST accepted this hospital record as the official birth date. Following this, the national Birth and Death Registration website marked Monalisa’s original birth certificate as cancelled — and it has since been removed from the site entirely.
Based on the new document, Monalisa would have been just 16 years, 2 months, and 12 days old at the time of marriage — making the marriage legally invalid under Indian law. But if the Government Medical College records cited by the NCST are indeed correct, then the Madhya Pradesh government itself is in a difficult position, since it had certified the original birth certificate as recently as June 6 of last year. It is the Madhya Pradesh government that owes an explanation for how two contradictory official documents came to exist.
The POCSO Case
There are also reports that an FIR has been registered against Farman Khan at the Maheshwar police station under the POCSO Act (which protects children from sexual offences). However, the couple say they have received no official communication about any such case.
“They are learning about the POCSO case and the cancellation of the birth certificate through the media — no official notice has been served on them so far. The claim that the certificates were forged has no basis whatsoever. We will proceed with legal action,” said a friend of Monalisa who is helping the couple navigate the legal proceedings, speaking to OBC. He also noted that Monalisa had not even completed primary education, and urged Kerala to be more welcoming toward people who had been forced to flee their home state and seek refuge here. Monalisa herself has not agreed to speak directly to the press.
Following the birth certificate findings, the NCST has summoned the Directors General of Police from both Madhya Pradesh and Kerala to its headquarters on April 22, and has asked both police departments to submit investigation reports within three days.
Officials from the Poovaar Grama Panchayat — within whose jurisdiction the Arumanooru Sri Nainar Temple falls — have told police that the documents Monalisa presented at the time of marriage, including her Aadhaar card, PAN card, and birth certificate, were all legally valid.
The report submitted by the Thiruvananthapuram Rural SP to the ADGP is said to be favourable to the couple — a claim echoed by the friend who spoke to OBC.
Currently, Monalisa’s father has filed a complaint with Madhya Pradesh police alleging abduction by Farman Khan. In response, the couple filed a petition before the Kerala High Court, which has issued a temporary stay on Farman Khan’s arrest. The case is next scheduled for hearing on May 20.
Fake News and Fabricated Videos
Alongside hate propaganda, misinformation has found a ready audience on social media. A selfie video — claimed to be of Farman Khan — is currently circulating widely.
In the video, a young man says: “Friends, I couldn’t find any trace of Monalisa in Ajmer either. I’m now heading to Jodhpur to search for her there. If anyone has any information about Monalisa, please let me know.”
This video, headlined “Monalisa is missing,” was picked up even by national media outlets. A second video of the same young man speaking from inside a car with the same message also went viral. However, OBC has established that both videos are fake.
A post shared on April 13 from an X account called ‘Maharathi’ has already racked up 1,600 likes and been shared by 677 users.
The caption of the post reads:
“MONALISA is nowhere to be found right now. What happened to that Hindu tribal girl? Did he kill her? Did he send her to an ISIS camp? Did he sell her? Where is she? Who will answer this? Will the Kerala Communists — who praised and endorsed this love jihad marriage — answer this question? Where is that Hindu girl? The bloodthirsty Communists owe us an answer!”
OBC has previously caught this same account spreading misinformation on other occasions as well. Several other accounts on X have posted the same video in a similar fashion.
However, a Google search using key frames from the circulating video led investigators to an Instagram Reel. The same young man seen in the video being passed off as Farman Khan appears in this Reel, alongside another person. In the Reel, it becomes clear that the man in the selfie video is not Farman Khan at all — he is identified as Arvind Kumar Joshi, who was standing next to the person recording. Arvind, who bears a physical resemblance to Farman Khan, is said to have made the video purely as a joke. Arvind Kumar Joshi himself confirms this, claiming his only intention was humor.
The Hindi news outlet Amar Ujala has also independently fact-checked the video and confirmed it is fake.
Is “Monalisa” Even Her Real Name?
Another claim circulating online is that Monalisa’s real name is “Moni,” and that the name “Monalisa” was inserted into a forged birth certificate. This claim, however, is directly contradicted by her Aadhaar card — which was made public at the time of the wedding — and which clearly lists her name as “Monalisa Bhosale.”
The birth certificate she presented for her marriage was officially authenticated by the Madhya Pradesh government on June 6 of last year. The subsequent cancellation of this very certificate — after the wedding — has raised serious suspicions. A friend of the couple told OBC: “An entire state machinery has been deployed to break them apart.”
The allegations that Monalisa’s documents, including the birth certificate, are forged remain unsubstantiated. The claim that there is a concerted political conspiracy to weaponize a Hindu-Muslim love marriage cannot be easily dismissed. The full weight of a state machinery, combined with the relentless spread of hate campaigns and disinformation, only strengthens that suspicion.
(This is an AI-assisted translation of an article originally written in Malayalam, produced under editorial supervision).
