Muslim judge in India faces death threats after convicting 'cow vigilantes'

Summary

The abuse directed at Tabassum Khan attacks her religion and not the legal reasoning behind her judgment An Indian judge has become the target of online abuse and death threats days after she sentenced 14 men to life imprisonment for lynching a man to death. On 12 June, the additional district and sessions judge of a court in Madhya Pradesh state, Tabassum Khan, found the men guilty of offences including murder, attempt to murder, rioting and wrongful restraint. The crime took place in 2022, when 50-year-old Nazir Ahmad was transporting cattle at night and was intercepted by a group of self-styled "gau rakshaks" (cow protectors), armed with sticks and rods. Hindus consider cows sacred and killing them is illegal in many states. Deaths raise fresh fears over cow vigilantism in India India's Muslim victims of hate crimes live in fear On 22 June, the Gau Raksha Parishad (which roughly translates to the council of cow saviours) staged a protest in Punjab state during which protesters assaulted and burnt an effigy of Khan. In a post of X, former Supreme Court judge Markandey Katju noted how these videos and protests did not merely criticise the verdict but sought to "delegitimise Judge Khan's authority as a judicial officer by reducing her identity to her religion". Khan has also received support from prominent judicial organisations - the Supreme Court Advocates-on-Record Association , external (SCAORA) and the Supreme Court Bar Association , external (SCBA) have condemned the threats against her and demanded that action be taken against the culprits. Many states in India have set up gaushalas or cow shelters to protect stray and unproductive cattle from slaughter Vikas Singh, president of the SCBA, told the BBC that threats against a judge were a grave issue as the judiciary was interlinked with the fundamentals of democracy. "In a democracy, a judge must be able to perform their duty without fear or favour." Meanwhile, police official Sudhakar Baraskar told the BBC that a case had been registered under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and two people had been arrested. But Supreme Court advocate Sanjay Hegde argued that the state and the judiciary should do more to ensure Khan's safety.