Uttar Pradesh: Judge who awarded 36 death sentences in 16 months, transferred to family court

New Delhi: Judge Ravi Kumar Diwakar, who awarded 36 death sentences in just 16 months, in 2 different courts has been transferred to the family court in Muzzafarnagar. He made headlines for awarding 23 death sentences in just 11 cases in Muzaffarnagar between April and September this year. The rest of the 13 cases where he awarded death sentences were in Bareilly.

Now he has been transferred from the fast track court to the family court. He will soon take charge as the additional principal judge of the family court in Muzaffarnagar, said the latest judicial transfer orders issued by the concerned department.

Judge Diwakar was transferred to Muzaffarnagar on Nov 29, 2025. He was the presiding officer of fast track Court 3 and heard criminal cases from Muzaffarnagar and Shamli districts. On September 7, he pronounced his 23rd death sentence in Muzaffarnagar. This was for a man who had been convicted of burning his wife alive, said a report in the Times of India.

His tenure at the court came to attention, when at least 97 pending cases, involving murder and other serious offences were recalled from his court. This happened in August and was on the orders of the then district-and sessions judge, Birendra Kumar Singh. Singh has now retired.

Following the call back of the cases, Diwakar questioned it during one of his judgments. He asked on what basis had the cases been recalled from his court. During a case involving the NDPS he questioned whether such files could be taken back just due to “administrative grounds” and also questioned the “reasons behind exercising the power.”

The judge also talked about the “absence of the recorded reasons.”

Apart from the death penalties, there are also other reasons which brought judge Diwakar to the limelight. In May 2022, as a civil judge in Varanasi, he ordered a court-monitored videographic survey of the Gyanvapi mosque complex. This was in a case concerning the right of Hindus to worship at the Sringar Gauri site, inside the mosque complex.

As the survey progressed, the Hindu side claimed that a structure in the ‘wuzu khana’ area of the mosque was a ‘shivling’. However the Muslim side disputed the claim. Later the Supreme Court transferred the case to the court of the Varanasi district judge’s court.

Following the order, Diwakar claimed to have received threats. This led to security agencies reviewing the threat. In 2024 also he said that he was receiving threats, allegedly from “international phone numbers.”

During his posting in Muzaffarnagar, he wrote to the UP DGP, regarding removal of the assigned gunner. He said that this “compromised his protection.” The police however said that alternative personnel had been assigned for the security of the judge.

Diwakar, 46 joined the Uttar Pradesh Judicial Services as a Munsif/Civil Judge (junior division) in 2009. He holds B Com, LLB and LLM degrees. He was earlier posted in Azamgarh, Sultanpur, Budaun and Varanasi.