HC Restrains Bohra Leader Taher Fakhruddin From Presenting Himself as the 54th Syedna

A division bench of the Bombay high court restrained Dawoodi Bohra leader Taher Fakhruddin from presenting his father or himself as the 53rd and 54th Syedna, respectively, during the pendency of his appeal against a single-judge bench, which had dismissed his suit asking for a declaration that he was the 54th leader of the Dawoodi Bohra community.

- HT Correspondent

MUMBAI:

"We are of the view that during the pendency of the appeal, the appellant (Taher Fakhruddin) shall not hold out his father, the original plaintiff, or hold himself out as the 53rd and 54th Syedna," said the bench of justices BP Colabawalla and Somasekhar Sundaresan.

The division bench passed the order primarily in view of the findings recorded by the single-judge bench in April that Fakhruddin had failed to prove that a valid "nass" was conferred on him, while Syedna Mufaddal Burhanuddin Saifuddin had proved that a valid nass had been conferred on him by the 52nd Dai al-Mutlaq or Syedna. Nass is the official declaration of succession followed by the Dawoodi Bohra sect.