Bohra succession row trial date fixed

The Bombay high court on Monday fixed April 22 and May 2 as new dates for continuing the trial in the succession row between Mufaddal Saifuddin, the current Syedna of the Dawoodi Bohra community and his 75-year-old uncle Khuzaima Qutbuddin. The court is hearing petition filed by Mr Qutbuddin seeking court order to declare him the spiritual head of the Dawoodi Bohras.

Khuzaima Qutbuddin has filed the suit, seeking a court order to declare him the 53rd Dai-al-Mutlaq, the spiritual head of the Dawoodi Bohras after death of his half brother Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin.

Syedna Burhanuddin was declared as spiritual head after death of his father Syedna Taher Saifuddin. Mr Burhanuddin died at the age of 102 and then his son Mufaddal Saifuddin succeeded him as 53rd Dai.

The contention of the petitioner is that Mr Burhanuddin had anointed him as his successor secretly in December 1965 and he was trying to prove this in court.

Mr Qutbuddin is now being cross-examined in the high court over his claim. In August 2015 Mr Qutbuddin was answering questions during the cross-examination by Mr Saifuddin’s lawyer Iqbal Chagla.

Special arrangements were made to conduct this trial in the Central Court room and Justice Gautam Patel has directed that all arrangements as previously done should be made available on next dates of hearing too. During the hearing, the court is also taking help of official translators of the Bombay high court to translate sentences from Gujarati to English as well as cross check if any documents in Gujarati was produced.

During the previous hearing, Mr Qutbuddin had said that the reason the news of conferring the nass (appointment as successor) upon him was kept secret to maintain peace in the community. He had also claimed that there were two attempts on his life, the first in Indore and second in Yemen and he does not know who were behind them.