The Madhya Pradesh Police have challenged the maintainability of a bail plea filed before the Kerala High Court by actor Farmaan and his actor wife.

The MP police had registered an FIR against them, after an inquiry by the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes found that she was a minor at the time of her marriage.

The MP Police contended that the bail petition before the Kerala HC was not maintainable, as the FIR against them was registered in Madhya Pradesh. They can only apply for transit anticipatory bail. There is no mention in the bail plea about why they chose not to go to MP, it said.

The couple contended that copies of the FIR against them have not been produced before the High Court. The court observed that it would hear the case only after the FIR was produced. The court had earlier stayed their arrest.

The two actors married in Kerala in March with the help of the police here, since her family was opposed to their marriage. Subsequently, her father filed a complaint before the MP police, accusing Farmaan of abducting his ‘minor’ daughter.

She went on to file a petition before the Madhya Pradesh High Court, alleging that the birth certificate that her father cited to criminalise her interfaith marriage, was a forged one.