A retired Bombay High Court judge has filed a police complaint in Mumbai after receiving a series of death threats demanding the retraction of his landmark 2024 ruling on the leadership of the million-strong Dawoodi Bohra community.
The legal and security apparatuses in both India and the United Kingdom have been drawn into the matter. Following an escalation of the threats abroad, the London police recently initiated security cover for the former jurist, Gautam Patel, and his family.
According to the complaint filed with the Gamdevi police in Mumbai on Sunday, the intimidation has spanned ten months. The situation intensified on June 5, when a highly threatening letter bearing a German postmark was delivered to the London residence of Patel’s daughter. The package warned that a contract had been taken out on the family’s lives and contained a digital storage device, which has since been handed over to the Metropolitan Police in London.
The senders of the letters have demanded that the retired judge publish a video on YouTube apologizing for his judgment and retracting his findings. The perpetrators claimed the high-profile succession verdict was delivered under duress and coercion. Similar anonymous letters had previously arrived at Patel’s Mumbai home, where they were received by his wife.
The decision to provide police protection in the UK followed high-level diplomatic interventions. Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, who was on an official visit to the UK, raised the safety concerns with Indian High Commissioner P Kumaran. High Commissioner Kumaran subsequently coordinated with British authorities to establish adequate security measures for the retired judge and his family.
The Contested Succession Verdict
The threats are directly connected to an April 24, 2024, decision authored by Patel on his final day before retiring from the Bombay High Court. In that ruling, Patel dismissed a long-running lawsuit that challenged the leadership of the Dawoodi Bohra community. He upheld Syedna Mufaddal Saifuddin as the legitimate 53rd Dai al-Mutlaq, concluding that his appointment was supported by a valid ‘nass’, or nomination.
The legal battle began in 2014 when Khuzaima Qutbuddin challenged the succession immediately following the death of his brother, Mohammed Burhanuddin, the 52nd Dai, who died at the age of 102. Burhanuddin’s second son, Mufaddal Saifuddin, then assumed the role of spiritual leader. After Qutbuddin passed away in 2016, his son, Taher Fakhruddin, kept the suit active, asserting that the leadership authority had been passed to him.
In dismissing the challenge, Patel ruled that the plaintiffs had failed to present any evidence proving that the 52nd Dai had ever nominated Qutbuddin as his successor. Patel retired from the judiciary on April 25, 2024, the day after delivering the judgment. The dispute is currently being reviewed by a division bench of the Bombay High Court, where an appeal filed by the plaintiffs remains pending.
