Ahmedabad Times

The household of retired Bombay excessive court docket decide GS Patel has, for 10 months now, confronted threats and precise acts of violence throughout two continents in connection along with his landmark 2024 judgment settling the succession challenge within the David Bohra neighborhood, with the newest incident being on June 5.

The demand is that Justice (retd) Patel recant his judgment of April 23, 2024 in a YouTube video, one thing that’s unprecedented within the annals of Indian authorized historical past, particularly not on the stage of a constitutional court docket.

Final week, on June 5, Patel’s daughter in London, Aditi Patel, obtained an nameless letter that learn: “You got ample warning. The gang has been paid. The following step includes cremation of you and your loved ones. You may cancel the contract by doing what you had been advised within the final letter. Hooked up is a chip that reveals what occurs since you selected to not comply.” The letter, purportedly despatched from Germany — it bears a German stamp — was despatched from a pretend London tackle by a sure ‘Dye Solar Ent: Die Quickly Enterprises’. An SD card hooked up to the letter has been taken by the Hertfordshire police as a part of its investigation. The household didn’t attempt to open the cardboard on their laptop, fearing it might corrupt or take over their methods. HT couldn’t independently confirm its contents from the police.

Justice Patel mentioned he has written to the Indian Excessive Commissioner in London and the appearing chief justice of the Bombay excessive courtand has additionally apprised the Chief Justice of India, Surya Kant, of the matter. “I’ve been retired since April 2024. A judgment of the Bombay Excessive Court docket can’t be recanted by a YouTube video,” he added.

The cycle of threats and violence started in August final yr. Justice Patel’s spouse, Malashri Patel, obtained a letter of their Mumbai dwelling. “We’re a strong guild of the DB (Dawoodi Bohra) neighborhood members fascinated about justice being served for our neighborhood…We have now employed a really succesful and harmful syndicate who carried out the warning in London…” it mentioned. It was unsigned and undated. On the identical time, in London, Justice Patel’s daughter, Aditi Patel, obtained an identical letter, which, as well as, claimed accountability for the break-in into her dwelling in a London suburb in August 2025.

Then, on April 22 this yr, whereas his daughter was on a faculty run, a masked man accosted her from behind and assaulted her, breaking her nostril and leaving her bloodied on the highway.

The letters to the Patel household additionally give detailed directions on how the retired decide ought to stroll again his judgment, together with recording a YouTube video stating he was coerced into issuing the order and disseminating it to the media and the Bombay Bar Affiliation. On September 9 final yr, the Gamdevi police in mumbai registered a non-cognisable criticism primarily based on the letter. In London, his daughter and son-in-law registered a criticism with the UK police. The West Hertfordshire counter-terrorism unit is reviewing the April 22 assault on Aditi Patel.

Mark Clawson, Detective Superintendent on the Hertfordshire Constabulary, confirmed that the threats and the assault on Aditi Patel had been being investigated however refused to disclose any particulars, stating, “The case is a stay investigation.” Officers on the Indian Excessive Fee in London advised HT that they had been conscious of the case and have taken acceptable steps to assist Justice Patel’s household.

This alleged marketing campaign of threats and violence arises from Justice Patel’s 2024 judgment affixing who the true religious head of the million-strong Dawoodi Bohra neighborhood is–a matter which has cleaved the neighborhood. Following the demise of Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin, the 52nd religious and temporal chief of the Dawoodi Bohra neighborhood in Mumbai in 2014, a swimsuit was filed within the Bombay Excessive Court docket difficult the appointment of Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin’s son, Syedna Mufaddal Saifuddin, as the following Dai al-Mutlaq or the supreme chief.

The challenger was his uncle Khuzaima Qutbuddin, and after his demise in 2016, the swimsuit was taken up by his cousin Taher Fakhruddin. On April 23, 2024, Justice Patel dismissed the Taher Fakruddin-led Qutbi Bohra faction’s swimsuit, citing an absence of credible proof of divine proper, and affirmed Syedna Mufaddal Saifuddin because the rightful 53rd Dai al-Mutlaq. The Fakruddin faction has since appealed in opposition to the judgment earlier than a division bench of the Bombay HC.

“Syedna Taher Fakhruddin Saheb unequivocally condemns any such threats and violence…These acts are clearly meant to malign us and try and derail the attraction,” Aziz Bhaisaheb Qutbuddin, brother of Taher Fakhruddin, and director of communications for Syedna Taher Fakhruddin, mentioned.

Individually, a structure bench of the Supreme Court docket is listening to one other vital case pertaining to the non secular observe of feminine circumcision known as khatna among the many Dawoodi Bohras (Sunita Tiwari v Union of India). Activists argue that FGM violates human rights and bodily integrity. Among the many intervenors within the ongoing case is the Dawoodi Bohra Ladies’s Affiliation for Spiritual Freedom (DBWRF), which asserts FMG is a innocent cultural observe.

In one of many letters despatched to evaluate Patel’s household, there’s even a point out of the FGM case. It says, referring to Justice Patel: “Your cowardice has enabled the defendant (the Syedna Mufaddal Saifuddin faction) to proceed to make use of violence, threats and coercion ways upon neighborhood members to fleece them for as a lot as he can and power them to observe reprehensible practices reminiscent of FGM and so forth., and most significantly, to alter the true Dawoodi Bohra doctrine to swimsuit his functions. We won’t permit this to proceed.”

Justice Patel says an attraction is the reliable technique to go about issues. “The attraction mechanism, which the Qutbi faction is already actively utilizing, is the one right authorized path to problem a judgment. Thus, the calls for (to launch a video going again on his verdict) exist not as a real try and right a authorized consequence, however purely as a coercion instrument: to fabricate false proof of judicial corruption that would affect the attraction, and to humiliate and break a decide who did his responsibility faithfully.”

Justice Patel additionally mentioned that the threats issued to him and his household have been fastidiously calibrated, benefiting from the jurisdictional divide between India and the UK.

He mentioned that, whereas he had diligently pursued the official chain of command, the menace to his household persevered.

“I’ve approached the authorities, and nobody has rebuffed me. I additionally perceive that the jurisdictional remit of the authorities is proscribed to India. However then this is able to be a systemic failure. A decide is anticipated to work with out concern or favour, however who will wish to be a decide in the event that they and their members of the family face such threats?” he mentioned.