UP judge who handed down 23 death sentences in six months moved to a family court

Ravi Kumar Diwakar, an Uttar Pradesh judge who handed down 23 death sentences in 11 cases in Muzaffarnagar between April and September this year, has been moved from a fast-track court to the family court in the same district on the orders of the Allahabad High Court.

Diwakar, an additional district and sessions judge, has been appointed Additional Principal Judge of the Family Court in Muzaffarnagar. The Allahabad High Court’s official record of his postings lists 23 October 2026 as the date of the transfer notification. The transfer order, as reported, does not give a reason for the move.

Diwakar, 46, had presided over fast-track court-3 in Muzaffarnagar since 29 November 2025, hearing criminal cases from Muzaffarnagar and Shamli districts. Shiv Kumari, the additional sessions judge who presided over fast-track court-2, has been moved to his former court.

His string of death sentences drew national attention. On 7 September he pronounced his 23rd death sentence in Muzaffarnagar, convicting a man for burning his wife alive. He had also awarded 13 death sentences during an earlier posting in Bareilly, The Times of India reported.

His Muzaffarnagar tenure also saw a dispute over cases. In August, at least 97 pending case files involving murder and other serious offences were withdrawn from his court on the orders of the then district and sessions judge, B K Singh, who has since retired.

Diwakar later questioned that decision in a 35-page judgment acquitting an accused in a nearly decade-old case under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, news agency PTI reported. He asked whether cases in which hearings had already begun could be withdrawn through administrative orders without following the procedure prescribed by law, and raised concerns about judicial independence.

According to The Times of India, he observed that the question was not merely whether such files could be taken back on administrative grounds, but also the “reasons behind exercising that power”, and he questioned the “absence of recorded reasons”.

Diwakar first came into the national spotlight in May 2022 when, as a civil judge (senior division) in Varanasi, he ordered a court-monitored videographic survey of the Gyanvapi mosque complex. He reported receiving threats after that order, and in 2024 raised concerns about threats from international phone numbers.

During his Muzaffarnagar posting, he wrote to the Uttar Pradesh Director General of Police that the removal of his assigned gunner had “compromised his protection”, TOI reported. Police said alternative personnel had been deployed.