Tabassum Khan: Muslim judge in India faces death threats after convicting 'cow vigilantes' for lynching - BBC News

Tabassum Khan has been facing online abuse after convicting 14 Hindu men in a lynching case.

Image source, narmadapuram.dcourts.gov.inImage caption, The abuse directed at Tabassum Khan attacks her religion and not the legal reasoning behind her judgment

An Indian judge has become the target of online abuse and death threats days after she sentenced 14 men to life imprisonment for lynching a man to death.

On 12 June, the additional district and sessions judge of a court in Madhya Pradesh state, Tabassum Khan, found the men guilty of offences including murder, attempt to murder, rioting and wrongful restraint.

The crime took place in 2022, when 50-year-old Nazir Ahmad was transporting cattle at night and was intercepted by a group of self-styled "gau rakshaks" (cow protectors), armed with sticks and rods. Hindus consider cows sacred and killing them is illegal in many states.

The men dragged Ahmad and his two companions out of the vehicle and brutally assaulted them on suspicion of smuggling cows. Ahmad later succumbed to his injuries while his companions survived to tell the court what happened.