A judge in Madhya Pradesh has come under severe communal attack after she delivered a verdict convicting cow vigilantes in a lynching case.

Earlier this month, Tabassum Khan, Additional District and Sessions Judge of Narmadapuram district, had sentenced 7 men to life imprisonment for lynching Sheikh Lala Nazir Ahmed, a truck driver, in 2022, over suspicions of cow smuggling.

On the day of the verdict, the families of the convicts had held protests, attempting to block the police vehicle from taking away the guilty men to prison.

Shortly after the verdict, several online videos and posts surfaced, targeting the Judge based on religious identity.

The Madhya Pradesh Police in Seoni Malwa have registered an FIR against unidentified individuals following the targeted, communal online campaign against Judge Tabassum Khan, invoking Sections 302 and 196 of the BNS.

A video has widely circulated on X (formerly Twitter), with unknown origins, reportedly of one Vishal Singh from Gujarat, who can be seen threatening and abusing the Judge with communal slurs, seeking the release of the convicted men within 10 days.

Another video showed multiple people, allegedly from Mohali, Punjab, seeking the release of the convicts while burning the effigy of the Judge.

Another Twitter account named HinduNation published a tweet stating, "By misusing her power, Judge Tabassum Khan, ignoring the rules of the honorable court and showing bias out of malice, sentenced the cow protectors to life imprisonment. The honorable Supreme Court is requested to kindly suspend Judge Tabassum Khan who is biased towards the public and violated the rules of the judiciary, so that the public can get justice and all the cow protectors who saved the cow are released so that they can serve more cows again and all the decisions given during the entire tenure of this so called religious judge should be re-examined".

Another video showed a procession of gua-rakshaks demanding the release of the convicts. The video was shared by a user accusing the judge of passing judgments on the basis of religion, and demanding her removal. The user claimed that cow-protection was not a crime.

Several prominent personalities, including advocates practising in the Seoni Malwa region, are condemning the lack of effective measures to curb this online harassment against a judicial officer.

Member of Rajya Sabha and Indian National Congress member, Pawan Khera, reacting to a video targeting the Judge, said, "All the convicts are indeed Hindu men. But they were not convicted because of their religion; they were convicted because the investigation found them guilty of rioting, attempted murder and murder. Yet our Hindu brother in the video is not outraged by their behaviour. His outrage is reserved for one fact alone: that the judge who convicted them is a Muslim woman." Khera questioned why no swift legal action has been taken against those spewing hatred against the Judge.

Senior Advocate Vivek Thankha condemned the attacks against the judge, saying, "It's time that our fraternity of law and the enlightened citizenry rise to appreciate & protect judges, who show courage to stand by and uphold the Rule of Law. Especially if it's at the lower echelons of judiciary."

Thankha added that the silence of the higher judiciary & the Govt in the matter was shocking.

The case dates back to the intervening night of August 2 and 3, 2022, when the victims were transporting cattle from Nardarwada towards Maharashtra, and they were intercepted near Barakhand Village in Seoni Malwa. A mob of villagers blocked the vehicle and violently assaulted the men with sticks and wooden rods. While Nazir Ahmed succumbed to the injuries, his associate, Sheikh Mushtaq, suffered injuries.