By Maktoob
A Muslim woman judge has come under communal abuse, online threats and a targeted campaign by Hindutva groups after sentencing 14 alleged cow vigilantes to life imprisonment for the 2022 mob lynching of a Muslim truck driver in Madhya Pradesh’s Narmadapuram district.
On June 12, Additional District and Sessions Judge Tabassum Khan convicted 14 men, describing the assault as “extremely brutal” and holding that the accused had formed an unlawful assembly with the common objective of attacking the truck’s occupants.
The case relates to the night of August 2–3, 2022, when Nazir Ahmed, who was transporting cattle from Madhya Pradesh to Maharashtra, was allegedly intercepted by a mob near Barakhar village in Seoni Malwa and fatally assaulted.
Meanwhile, emotional scenes unfolded outside the courtroom as family members of the convicted men broke down in tears and protested, with some allegedly lying in front of police vehicles to stop the 14 convicts from being taken to prison before police brought the situation under control.
Following the verdict, several Hindutva organisations and self-described cow protection groups launched protests against the judgment, with some framing it as a Hindu-Muslim issue because the presiding judge is Muslim.
Demonstrators burned effigies of Judge Khan, labelled her “anti-Hindu” and circulated abusive social media posts targeting her religious identity.
This story was originally published in maktoobmedia.com. Read the full story here.