The Madhya Pradesh High Court has taken suo motu cognisance of news reports about communal threats issued against an Additional District and Sessions Judge who had sentenced a group of cow vigilantes to life imprisonment in a lynching case, and directed senior police and government officials to explain the steps taken to protect her.The court underlined that judicial orders were amenable to scrutiny only through the appellate or revisional forums provided under law, and that a judge could not be threatened merely for passing an order that was not to the liking of a section of society.The bench also directed the Additional Advocate General to file personal affidavits from the Director General of Police and the Additional Chief Secretary (Home), setting out the steps being taken against those responsible for the threats.