WHEN my good friend, Justice Gautam Patel (retd), phoned me from his daughter’s house in London, I was shocked to hear his story. He is known in Mumbai’s judicial circles as a conscientious, upright judge who could not be influenced by anyone. One of the last cases he decided before retiring from the Bombay High Court in April 2024 involved two factions of the Dawoodi Bohra community.
One faction is led by the present Dai (religious head of the community), who succeeded his late father. The other is headed by the previous Dai’s brother, who claimed that the predecessor had told him that he would succeed to the “gaddi”. Justice Patel did not think that an oral promise made without witnesses constituted sufficient grounds to discard the widely accepted principle of primogeniture.
Both factions are strong, numerically as well as financially. Only a judge of the reputation of Justice Patel — I am proud to say that there are many such judges whom I know of — would be able to withstand the clout of these two power centres. And this he did with panache. But he would never have imagined that he would be targeted for a decision made in his judicial capacity in accordance with his conscience and principles.
The Dawoodi Bohras are Shia Muslims hailing from Gujarat. They are a prosperous business community that is known to use money power to get decisions in their favour. With Justice Patel, any such approach was impossible. Both factions must have been aware of this “impediment” even before the hearing began. The case may have been assigned to Justice Patel by the high court’s Chief Justice for that very reason.
So, when Justice Patel’s daughter, who stays in a London suburb with her husband and children, was assaulted on April 22 this year, he advised her to file a complaint at the local police station, which she did. A few weeks later, she received an anonymous letter. It contained a threat to kill the whole family unless Justice Patel issued a statement on YouTube that he had passed an erroneous judgment in the succession case due to pressure exerted by the rival group! Similar threat letters were received by Justice Patel’s wife at their Mumbai home.
As expected by all who know him, Justice Patel decided to face the thugs. The Mumbai police lodged a case on the charge of criminal intimidation after the retired judge submitted a complaint.
The identification of the culprits is the immediate priority. Unfortunately, the local police in England have not been equal to the task. The Metropolitan Police, known internationally as Scotland Yard, need to deploy their ace detectives to do the job, especially since they are up against a crime syndicate formed mainly of Pakistani-origin Muslims active in the UK. The gang members are trafficking girls of European origin and supplying drugs to them, as reported by MP Rupert Lowe. His report also mentions the conversion of some of the girls to Islam.
When Justice Patel got in touch with me, I thought of the people who could prod the Metropolitan Police to play a more active role in the investigation.
The only senior British police officer (now retired) who had kept in touch with me was Geoffrey Dear. He was the Chief Constable of the Midlands Police, with the headquarters in Birmingham, when I first met him. I stayed with him at his home, and he and two of his juniors had visited my bungalow in Chandigarh nearly four decades ago. Since the Midlands has a sizeable Sikh population, Dear was keen on learning how the Punjab Police were tackling “Khalistani” terrorism. I refuted many of the false accounts of police “atrocities” fed to him by Sikhs in Birmingham.
Dear retired as the UK’s Inspector of Constabulary. He was knighted and made a Lord. In that capacity, he is an MP in the House of Lords. I tried to contact him, but did not succeed.
Justice Patel’s ordeal goes beyond the attack on his daughter and the death threats. It undermines the innate concept of justice in a democracy. If judges are compelled to bother about their own safety and those of their family members in cases where a stakeholder is displeased with the judgment, the entire system based on the separation of powers between the legislature, the executive and the judiciary will crumble — like it did in Punjab during the era of terrorism.
I know innumerable judges of the Supreme Court and high courts who are of unimpeachable integrity. When they retire, I fall back on them for sharing their values with young law students that my NGO, the Public Concern for Governance Trust, interacts with on a regular basis. Justice Patel was one of those judges who was always willing to spare time to talk to them.
Last week, the Bombay High Court was informed that round-the-clock police protection for Justice Patel and his family had been provided. The HC observed, “A judge who has done his duty and demitted office is facing this (threats). The Union and the state governments need to act swiftly.”
The present Chief Justice of India (CJI), Justice Surya Kant, during his official visit to London recently, discussed the matter with the High Commissioner. Consequently, Justice Patel and his family have been granted security. But it is far more important for the Metropolitan Police to identify the persons who dared to threaten a judge for doing his duty.
