Mumbai: The Bombay Bar Association (BBA) has condemned alleged threats, intimidation and acts of violence against former Bombay High Court judge Justice Gautam Patel and his family, following his 2024 judgment in the long-running Dawoodi Bohra succession dispute.
In an eight-point resolution by the BBA dated 8 June and signed by Bar President Nitin Thakker, the association said it had noted with “grave concern” reports that Justice Patel and his family had been targeted over the verdict. The association also expressed its solidarity with Justice Patel and his family.
“This Association believes that in a constitutional democracy governed by the rule of law, judicial decisions may be questioned, criticised and challenged only through lawful and constitutional means, including appellate remedies available under law. Resort to threats, intimidation, coercion or violence against judges or their families has no place in a civilised society and cannot be tolerated,” it said.
On Friday, Justice Patel received an undated anonymous letter at the residence of his daughter, who lives in London. “I was in London on Friday when this latest letter was delivered saying, ‘you did not comply with the original demand of September 2025, your daughter has seen the consequences. Now we have fully paid the contract to a dangerous criminal syndicate’,” Justice Patel told ThePrint.
“So in this undated letter, this powerful guild of Dawoodi Bohra members who have contracted with a dangerous criminal syndicate said, ‘you have to now comply with the demands otherwise the next step involves the cremation of you and your family.’ Now that’s a death threat to me as an Indian citizen on British soil.”
Justice Patel told ThePrint that the threats began last year in August when his daughter’s house in London was broken into. “At that time there was nothing to connect it to anything because the judgment is of April 2024. An appeal has been filed a few months later. Nothing has happened till August 2025. So, it was looked at as a random break-in.”
“On 3 September 2025, my daughter and son-in-law received two envelopes with these threatening letters inside them saying this is a message for Gautam Patel,” he added.
He was, according to the retired judge, accused of delivering “a false and corrupt judgment”. Additionally, he was asked to make a video saying that he his judgement was made under pressure. Then, only he could return to the country.
Family members would be harmed if the steps were not followed, he said, citing the contents of the letter.
Two days later, he said, his wife got an identical letter on 5 September. Based on the letter, on 9 September, Justice Patel registered a non-cognizable complaint at the Gamdevi police station in Mumbai.
Giving details of the attack, the retired Bombay High Court judge said that his daughter was brutally attacked 22 April in London by an unidentified masked person and suffered a fractured nose.
“On 26 April, my daughter just dropped off her kid to school which is literally down the corner. At around 8:45 am, she was 10 seconds away from the front door when she was attacked by a masked man in a hoodie who punched her repeatedly in the face. He fractured her face and there was blood all over the place. She fell to the ground on the pavement,” he said.
This, according to him, did not seem like a robbery as the attacker neither took away her phone, keys nor jewellery. The attacker, he said, kicked “his daughter repeatedly until the neighbours showed up.”
While the Metropolitan Police are investigating the assault and threats, the former judge said they still don’t have any suspects and require a letter from Mumbai Police before going further with the investigation.
“We’re being told that the Metropolitan Police cannot act unless they get a request from the Mumbai Police. Because the threat is to me and the demand is made to me. And I am an Indian citizen. That’s absurd because it is my daughter who was attacked and who is a British national now,” he said.
The judgement
The threats are related to Justice Patel’s judgement in the Dawoodi Bohra succession dispute in April 2024. The dispute began after the death of Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin, the 52nd Dai al-Mutlaq and spiritual head of the Dawoodi Bohra community, in 2014.
His son, Mufaddal Saifuddin, took over as the 53rd Dai, but the succession was challenged by Khuzaima Qutbuddin, Burhanuddin’s half-brother, who claimed he had been privately conferred succession through secret nass (conferment of succession).
Qutbuddin filed a suit before the Bombay High Court in 2014. After he died in 2016, his son Taher Fakhruddin continued the case.
On 23 April 2024, Justice Patel dismissed the nine-year-old suit and held that Mufaddal Saifuddin was the rightful leader of the Dawoodi Bohra community. The judgment is currently under challenge before a division bench of the Bombay High Court.
The Bar Association’s resolution on Monday referred to the report on the attack, calling it “an attack upon the institution of the judiciary and the constitutional promise that disputes will be resolved by courts free from fear, favour, affection or ill-will.”
“Violence or threats of violence against judges or their families strike at the very heart of judicial independence and constitute a blatant assault on the rule of law,” it added.
The association urged authorities to conduct a prompt, thorough and effective investigation, identify those responsible, and prosecute them in accordance with law. It also called upon the Ministry of External Affairs to take up the matter with authorities in England to ensure the safety of Justice Patel’s family.
Justice Patel has reportedly also informed the Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, the Acting Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court Ravindra V. Ghuge and the Indian High Commission in London about the threats.
“In fairness, there is a new High Commissioner in London and so will have to give them some time to get back to me. I am confident that the channels in Mumbai figure something and their actions will follow,” he said.
The HC judgment cannot be recanted through a video and the only legal remedy was an appeal, he added.
“I really feel bad for people in positions of authority because now somebody at the highest level has to ensure the safety of all 900 judges of the judiciary at the high court-level. How is one to do this? Somebody will pick some judgement delivered in some matter three years ago and say, ‘I didn’t like it,’ and then start attacking people. Who will agree to become a judge in these circumstances?”
Justice Gautam Patel was appointed as a judge at the Bombay High Court in 2013 and served for 11 years until his retirement on 25 April 2024, at the age of 62.
This is an updated version of the article with quotes from the retired judge.
(Edited by Sugita Katyal)