Madhya Pradesh had 46 Muslim District Sessions judges; Maharashtra (3), Rajasthan (20), Tamil Nadu (68), Telangana (59), Uttar Pradesh (194), and West Bengal (11)
THE number of Muslim judges at the District and Session Courts, the real engine room of India’s legal system for handling civil disputes and criminal trials, has remained at utterly unsatisfactorily low levels, according to a new book by Mohammed Abdul Mannan, At the Bottom of the Ladder: State of the Indian Muslims –https://www.amazon.in/dp/B0GF1Q9R25 – which quantifies Muslim presence in 150 key organisations, including Union ministries, departments, and other organisations.
The District and Sessions Judges can pass any sentence authorised by law except death sentences, which require confirmation by the High Court of the respective state. The District Judge handles civil cases while the Sessions Judge handles criminal cases.
District Courts are for each district or group of districts based on the caseload and population density. These are under the direct administration of High Courts and are bound by the High Court’s decisions. In 2024, India’s subordinate judiciary, which includes District and Sessions Courts, has a sanctioned strength of 22,677 judges, while the overall judiciary strength stood at 23,790, which also includes the Supreme Court and High Courts.
In its history, Andhra Pradesh, with 13 districts at present, has seen 919 District and Sessions Judges, of whom 43 have been Muslims. East Godavari has seen a maximum of 154 judges, of whom four were Muslims, the last being in 2002. Guntur comes next with 121 judges, including seven Muslims, with the last being in 2013. Krishna and Nellore have had 105 judges each. Muslim judges in Krishna district stand at four, the last being in 1973-74, while Nellore had seen three, the last in 2016.
Anantapur had seen 74 judges of whom 11 were Muslims, the last being in 2019. Chittoor had 63 judges of whom five were Muslims, the last in 2018. Forty-eight judges in Kadapa included four Muslims, with the last serving from 2012-14. There was only one Muslim judge among 27 who served at Kurnool in 1989. Prakasam and Srikakulam have not seen any Muslim judges out of 31 and 42 judges, respectively. One was a Muslim among Vishakhapatnam’s 57 – way back in 1963. Vizianagaram had one Muslim among 27 judges in 1986. West Godavari had two Muslims among 65 judges, first in 1939 and secondly in 1943.
In Arunachal Pradesh, there has not been a single Muslim judge among its 22 districts in history. In 33 districts, Assam had 57 Muslims out of 496 judges, eight each in Jorhat and Dhemaji. Dhubri and Cachar had five Muslim judges out of 37 and 31, respectively. The last one was in 2018 in Cachar and Dhubri in 2008. There had been no Muslim judges in Bajali, Barpeta, Bishwanath, Bongaigaon, Chirang, Goalpara, Haila Kandi, West Karbi Anglong, Udalguri, Karim Ganj, Kokrajhar, Lakhimpur, and Majauli districts, which had a total of 106 judges.
Baksa had seen its first Muslim judge in 2022, while Charaideo’s seven judges included one Muslim in 2021. Four out of 22 judges in Darrang were Muslims, the last being in 2004. Two of the 23 judges in Dibrugarh were Muslims, the last posted in 2012. Dima Hasao’s first Muslim judge came only in 2021. Golaghat got its first Muslim in 1994, out of a total of 14 judges. The highest number of judges was at Kamrup Metropolitan (65) of which four were Muslims, the last being in 1975.
One of two judges at Kamrup one has been a Muslim. Karbi Angalong’s two judges included a Muslim. There were three Muslims among 14 judges at Morigaon, the last in 2015. At Nagaon, one of the 19 judges had been a Muslim, way back in 1974. Nallbari’s 27 judges included three Muslims, with the last being posted in 2016. Shivsagar had two Muslims among its 20 judges, the last being in 2011.
Sonitpur’s count stood at four Muslims out of 31, with the last being in 1980. South Salmara-Mankachar’s only Muslim judge had been in 2021. Tinsukia’s five judges included a Muslim in 2000-01. In Bihar’s 37 districts, there had been a total of 1,251 judges, of whom 81 were Muslims. As many as 14 districts had not seen any Muslim judge in their history – Araria, Banka, Buxar, Jamui, Khagaria, Kishangunj, Lakhisarai, Nawada, Samastipur, Sheohar, Sheikhpura, Supaul, Vaishali, and West Champaran, out of a total of 170 judges.
Chhattisgarh had 10 Muslims out of a total of 318 District Session Judges. Of the three, one was in Bilaspur and two in Rajnandgaon. Haryana had two Muslims among 427 District Sessions Judges, both in Karnal. Himachal Pradesh has no Muslim till now out of 307 judges. Jharkhand had seen 21 Muslims among 446 District Sessions Judges and Karnataka had 40 out of 983. Kerala had 46 Muslims among 392 District Sessions Judges.
Madhya Pradesh had 46 Muslims among 459 District Sessions Judges. Maharashtra had three Muslims among 179 District Sessions Judges. Mizoram has no Muslims among the 36, while Meghalaya has two among 42. Odisha had five Muslims among 556 District Sessions Judges. Punjab had four Muslims out of 432. Rajasthan has 20 Muslims among 1,122 District Sessions Judges. Tamil Nadu’s count of Muslims among 909 District Sessions Judges stands at 68. Telangana has 59 Muslims among 593 District Sessions Judges. Uttar Pradesh had 194 Muslims out of 2,356 District Sessions Judges and West Bengal has 11 Muslims among 532.
To read and obtain more data, please visit:
At the Bottom of the Ladder: State of the Indian Muslims – https://www.amazon.in/dp/B0GF1Q9R25
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