A few months ago, Monalisa Bhosle was one of the most recognisable faces on the internet. Videos of the young woman selling rudraksha beads at the Prayagraj Kumbh Mela had made her a viral sensation. Soon afterwards came modelling assignments, film offers, and then a wedding in Kerala to a Muslim man that spiralled into one of the country's most closely watched legal and political controversies.
Since then, her family’s claim that she was a minor has triggered investigations across two states, an abduction case against her Uttar Pradesh-based husband Farman Khan, intervention by the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST), and months of political sparring over what the marriage represents.
