Madhya Pradesh Judge Faces Communal Backlash After Convicting Cow Vigilantes In Lynching Case
FIR registered against unidentified accused as online campaign targets Judge Tabassum Khan over life sentences awarded to seven convicts
NewsArc Bureau
Narmadapuram (Madhya Pradesh), June 30
A judge in Madhya Pradesh has come under sustained communal attack on social media after she convicted seven men of lynching a truck driver suspected of cow smuggling, with police now investigating an online harassment campaign targeting her on the basis of her religious identity.
THE VERDICT AND THE BACKLASH
Tabassum Khan, Additional District and Sessions Judge of Narmadapuram district, earlier this month sentenced seven men to life imprisonment for the 2022 killing of Sheikh Lala Nazir Ahmed, a truck driver who was beaten to death by a mob on suspicion of transporting cattle for slaughter. On the day the verdict was delivered, family members of the convicted men staged protests and attempted to block the police vehicle carrying the men to prison.
In the days that followed, multiple videos and posts began circulating online attacking the judge specifically because of her religion, rather than disputing the facts of the case.
FIR REGISTERED
Police in Seoni Malwa have registered an FIR against unidentified individuals in connection with the targeted online campaign against Judge Khan, invoking Sections 302 and 196 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
Among the material circulating online is a video, of unclear origin, purportedly showing one Vishal Singh from Gujarat hurling communal slurs and threats at the judge while demanding the convicts be released within ten days. A separate video allegedly from Mohali, Punjab, shows a group burning an effigy of the judge while demanding the release of the convicted men. Another clip shows a procession of self-styled cow vigilantes making similar demands, with the person sharing it accusing the judge of ruling along religious lines and insisting that “cow protection” was not a crime.
A Twitter account named “HinduNation” went further, publicly calling on the Supreme Court to suspend Judge Khan and to reopen every verdict she has delivered during her tenure, alleging bias.
LEGAL FRATERNITY REACTS
Lawyers practising in the Seoni Malwa region have condemned what they describe as inadequate action to curb the harassment of a sitting judicial officer.
Congress MP Pawan Khera, reacting to one of the videos, pointed out that the convicts were found guilty after a full investigation into rioting, attempted murder and murder — not because of their faith. He said the outrage online was directed not at the men’s conduct but solely at the fact that the judge who convicted them is a Muslim woman, and asked why no swift legal action had followed against those spreading the hate campaign.
Senior advocate Vivek Tankha also condemned the attacks, calling on the legal fraternity and the wider public to stand by judges who show the courage to uphold the rule of law, particularly those at the lower judiciary. He said the silence of the higher judiciary and the government on the matter was troubling.
BACKGROUND TO THE CASE
The lynching took place on the intervening night of August 2 and 3, 2022, when Nazir Ahmed and his associate Sheikh Mushtaq were transporting cattle from Nardarwada towards Maharashtra. Their vehicle was intercepted near Barakhand village in Seoni Malwa by a mob that blocked the road and attacked the men with sticks and wooden rods. Ahmed died of his injuries; Mushtaq survived but was injured.
