Muslim judge faces death threats after sentencing ‘cow vigilantes’ in India
New Delhi: A Muslim woman judge in Madhya Pradesh has become the target of severe online abuse, death threats and communal slurs after she sentenced 14 Hindu men to life imprisonment for the 2022 lynching of a Muslim man.
According to Kashmir Media Service, Additional District and Sessions Judge Tabassum Khan delivered the verdict on June 12 in the case of Nazir Ahmad, who was brutally killed by a mob of self-styled “cow protectors” in Seoni Malwa. The court found the men guilty of murder, rioting and wrongful restraint.
Following the judgment, videos surfaced online in which Hindutva influencers abused Khan using communal slurs, issued rape and death threats, and warned of “bloodshed” and “massacre” across the country unless the convicted men were released.
The abuse has focused not on the legal reasoning of the judgment but on Judge Khan’s religious identity.
Leading judicial bodies including Indian Supreme Court Bar Association and Supreme Court Advocates-on-Record Association have condemned the threats and demanded action.
The Madhya Pradesh High Court has also sought a report on her security.
The incident has once again highlighted the rising intolerance and targeting of Muslim judicial officers in India when they deliver verdicts against majoritarian interests.
