Bombay High Court’s retired judge Justice GS Patel and his family have allegedly been subjected to a sustained campaign of threats and violence across India and the United Kingdom over the judge's 2024 verdict in the case on the
Dawoodi Bohra community's leadership.
According to
Hindustan Times, besides receiving threatening letters, Justice Patel's daughter was accosted and attacked in London by an unidentified masked individual, and she sustained a fractured nose.
On April 23, 2024 Justice Patel held that Mufaddal Saifuddin, the 53rd Dai and incumbent leader of the Dawoodi Bohra community, is the rightful leader of the community.
He dismissed a 9-year-old suit filed by the challenger to the leadership, Taher Fakhruddin, on the ground that the challenger could not prove his appointment as the Syedna (community leader).
This verdict is presently under challenge before a division bench of the High Court.
According to a report of
the Hindustan Times, over the past ten months, Justice Patel’s family has received multiple threats, with the most recent incident reported on June 5.
An anonymous letter sent to his daughter in London warned of escalating violence and claimed that a ‘contract’ had been issued against the family. The letter, bearing a German postal mark and sent from a fictitious London address, included a digital storage device, now in the custody of Hertfordshire Police.
The family chose not to access the device due to security concerns.
The communications allegedly demand that Justice Patel publicly retract his judgment through a YouTube video. The letters also set out instructions for disseminating such a statement to legal bodies and the media.
Justice Patel has reportedly informed the Chief Justice of India, the Acting Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court, and the Indian High Commission in London.
The first reported threat happened in August 2025, when letters were sent to both his Mumbai residence and his daughter in London. One of the letters claimed responsibility for a break-in at his daughter’s home.
Subsequently, on April 22 this year, she was assaulted on road and was left bloodied.
The UK’s counter-terrorism authorities are examining the incident, while a non-cognisable complaint had earlier been registered in Mumbai.
Law enforcement authorities in the United Kingdom are investigating the active investigation.
The deeply contested
succession dispute within the Dawoodi Bohra community happened post the demise of their ‘Syedna’ (community leader) Mohammad Burhanuddin, the 52nd leader
After his demise, his son Mufaddal Saifuddin took over as the 53rd leader. This was disputed by Khuzaima Qutbuddin, half-brother of the deceased Syedna. He claimed he was the ‘Dai-al-Mutlaq’ (leader of the community) based on a secret ‘nass’ (conferment of succession) conferred by the late 52nd leader.
When the dispute could not be resolved, Qutbuddin, the original plaintiff, filed a suit before the High Court on March 29, 2014 seeking the court to declare him as the rightful 53rd Dai. In 2016, while evidence was still being recorded, the original plaintiff passed away and his son, Taher Fakhruddin, replaced his father as the plaintiff.
The trial went on for 9 years until the eventual dismissal of the suit in April 2024.
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