Legal Summary - February 2020

The cross-examination of His Holiness Syedna Taher Fakhruddin Saheb TUS (the Plaintiff) concluded on 29th January 2019, after hearings on 27 days at the Hon’ble Bombay High Court.

Next was the cross-examination of the Plaintiff’s expert witness, Professor Devin Stewart, Professor of Arabic and Islamic Studies at Emory University, USA. Professor Stewart is an independent expert on Ismaili, Shia and Islamic history and doctrine.

Professor Stewart’s cross-examination concluded on 6th December 2019 after 6 days of cross-examination. Reports of his testimony were published in online and print media by the Mumbai Mirror, Indian Express, Free Press Journal and others.

The cross-examination of the Plaintiff’s next witness, Mukasir-e-Dawat Dr. Syedi Husain Bhaisaheb Burhanuddin Saheb AAB, PhD in Quranic Studies from the University of Cambridge, who has translated documents in the Arabic and Lisan-ud-Dawat languages into the English language, concluded on 21st February 2020, after 7 days of cross-examination.

The Plaintiff has now closed his case, and the Defendant’s witnesses will now lead their evidence. The Defendant’s Counsel informed the Hon’ble Court that the Defendant will not be giving his own evidence as a witness, and the Defendant’s first witness will be Dr. Omar Malik, a neurologist who was amongst the doctors who treated the 52nd Dai in the hospital in London when the 52nd Dai suffered a stroke. He is to submit his affidavit of evidence by 10th March, with cross-examination expected to commence on 22nd April or thereabouts.