The Bombay Bar Association (BBA) on Monday passed a resolution expressing solidarity with Justice Gautam Patel, a retired judge of the Bombay High Court, whose family members have faced threats and violent attacks in the UK over a landmark 2024 ruling to settle the succession issue in the Dawoodi Bohra community.
The eight-point resolution, signed by BBA president Nitin Thakur, came on the day HT reported on the spate of threats and attacks received by Justice Patil’s daughter and wife since August 2025, the last incident being on June 5.
The British Bar Association called on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to take the necessary steps to address the matter with the authorities in England to ensure the safety of Judge Patel’s family.
“Violence or threats of violence against judges or their families strikes at the heart of the independence of the judiciary and constitutes a flagrant assault on the rule of law. Such conduct is not simply an attack on an individual judge, it is an attack on the institution of the judiciary and the constitutional promise that disputes will be resolved by the courts without fear, favour, favor or ill faith,” the BBA decision said.
Read also:Retd Bombay HC judge faces threats, family in UK attacked over Bohra rule 2024
Expressing its “strongest condemnation” of the attack on the judge and his family, the association, of which Justice Patel was a member before his elevation to the bench in 2013, said, “Reports that a member of Justice Patel’s family has suffered physical injury in the course of one of these incidents makes the matter particularly worrying and requires serious attention by the authorities.”
Justice Patel’s daughter Aditi Patel, 38, was attacked by a masked man on April 22, while she was on a school trip in London. He approached her from behind and assaulted her, breaking her nose and leaving her bloodied on the road.
On September 9 last year, Gamdevi police in Mumbai registered an unidentified complaint based on the threatening letter received by his wife Malashree Patil.
The Bar Association said that judicial decisions may only be questioned, criticized and challenged through legal and constitutional means, including remedies available under the law. The decision stated that “resorting to threats, intimidation, coercion, or violence against judges or their families has no place in a civilized society and cannot be tolerated.”
It urged the relevant authorities to conduct a prompt, comprehensive and effective investigation into these incidents and ensure that the persons responsible are identified, arrested and tried in accordance with the law.
