Key Points:
Justice Gautam Patel gave his verdict on the Dawoodi Bohra succession case in 2024, but continues to face death threats even after his retirement last year.
In April 2026, Patel's daughter, Aditi, was physically assaulted, resulting in a fractured nose. After which she received more death threats.
The community members upset with Patel's judgment asked him to revert his decision in front of the Bar Association.
GAUTAM PATEL, a retired Bombay High Court Judge, and his family have been facing death threats since his retirement in April 2025 over his monumental judgment in the Dawoodi Bohra succession case in 2024. The verdict put an end to the decade-long dispute over the community’s spiritual leader. However, it seems the dispute has still not been resolved for some sects as Patel continues to receive threatening letters following a physical attack on his daughter in the UK a couple of months ago.
Justice Gautam Patel and his daughter Aditi gave the details of the repeated incidents of threats to The Indian Express from the UK. Patel said, “It’s reported to the local police. September 3, 2025, a threatening letter arrives, which essentially says there’s a message for Gautam Patel, but it’s addressed to my daughter and her husband, and says you have delivered a false, corrupt judgment in the Dawoodi Bohra case, references the case specifically, and says we are a powerful guild of Dawoodi Bohras, and we have engaged a criminal syndicate. A dangerous criminal syndicate.”
He claims that the threats are demanding him to publicly give an interview to the Bar Association and say that his judgment was wrong. Ex-High Court judge said, “What is demanded is that I leave the country, which means leave India for an unknown destination, make a YouTube video recanting my judgment of April 23, 2024. Now, this is happening in August 2025, a year-and-a-half after I retired.”
The case stems from the dispute over the successorship of Dai-al-Mutlaq, the spiritual leader of the Dawoodi Bohra community.
After the death of the previous Dai, Syedna Mohammad Burhanuddin in 2014, the next leader was slated to be his half brother Khuzaima Qutbuddin. However, the dispute began after Qutbuddin also died in 2016 in the US. Following which, Qutbuddin’s son, Syedna Taher Fakhruddin, and the son of the previous Dai, Syedna Muffadal Saifuddin, both staked their claim to the title. After Saifuddin declared himself the new Dai, the other branch of the family took the case to the Bombay High Court, saying Fakhruddin is the rightful heir of the title.
There are accounts of the previous Dai telling Qutbuddin in private that he will be the successor. Witnesses claim he had also made the announcement in a public ceremony. Fakhruddin also stated in court that his father Qutbuddin conferred the nass of succession, which is irrevocable and thus he should be declared the Dai.
However, Justice Patel observed that the plaintiff’s claim was based on hearsay and no evidence of it existed. In the official statement, he stated that his judgment is not based on faith or beliefs but rather on facts. Thus, in 2024, after a decade of dispute, Justice Patel announced Syedna Muffadal Saifuddin, the son of the last Dai, the rightful heir to the title.
After Gautam Patel retired in 2025, he and his family began receiving threats from Fakhruddin's supporters and continued to do so for 10 months. The Indian Express reported one of the letters sent to Patel alleged that his 2024 judgment was “corrupt, fraudulent, and faulty.” Patel shared another letter to the media that read, “Your cowardice has enabled the defendant to continue to employ violence, threats, and coercion tactics upon community members to fleece them for as much as he can and force them to follow reprehensible practices such as FGM, etc., and most importantly, change the true Dawoodi Bohra doctrine to suit his purposes. We will not allow this to continue.”
On April 22, 2026, Patel’s daughter, Aditi, in the UK, after returning from dropping her child off to school, was attacked by a man in a mask and a hoodie. She was punched in the face multiple times and got a fractured nose from the horrific incident. Patel claims she was only saved when neighbors came running and the attacker fled away. The family reports that this is not a random incident as the neighborhood is generally considered peaceful and safe.
On June 5, 2026, the daughter received another letter, it read, “Here we are. You were given ample warning. The gang has been paid. The next step involves cremation. Yours and your family. You can cancel the contract by doing what you were told in the last letter. Attached is the chip. Shows what happens because you choose not to comply.” Justice Patel’s wife also received an identical letter in Mumbai, after which they informed the local police and got protection.
Patel highlights two major issues he has with his current ordeal: one is the protection of his family, and other is the system. He said, “Which judge is ever going to decide a matter and who’s going to read a judgment if this is the kind of thing that goes on after you do your job diligently, faithfully, deliver a judgment, and this is what begins to happen. To what end? What’s the end of this? Has to be some mechanism by which secured and safeguarded."
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