MUZAFFARNAGAR: Additional District and Sessions Judge Ravi Kumar Diwakar, whose court sentenced 23 people to death within months, has reportedly been transferred to the family court in Muzaffarnagar on the orders of the Allahabad High Court, according to officials. He had been presiding over a fast-track court in the same district, where he has served as an additional district and sessions judge since November 2025.
His court has awarded the death penalty to 23 convicts in 11 cases over the past several months, according to government counsel Kuldeep Kumar. Before taking charge in Muzaffarnagar, he had awarded 13 death sentences while serving in Bareilly. The sentences have drawn national attention, though they are not final: a death sentence passed by a sessions court must be confirmed by the High Court before it can be carried out.
The transfer follows a dispute over the handling of his caseload. On August 18, the then District Judge of Muzaffarnagar issued orders recalling 97 part-heard murder cases from his court. Muzaffarnagar Bar Association president Pramod Tyagi said lawyers and litigants had expressed concern over the possibility of the court awarding death sentences.
Judge Diwakar publicly challenged the recall. On September 7, while delivering his 23rd death sentence of the year, he questioned the orders and called them without jurisdiction, adding that a sessions judge’s power to transfer cases must serve the ends of justice and cannot be unrestricted administrative authority. He also claimed the transfers were meant to protect mafia and criminals, and said he would rather die than be called a cowardly judge.
The reported move to the family court, coming days after those remarks, has drawn attention in legal circles. The Allahabad High Court has not publicly explained the reasons, and judicial officers are routinely posted and reposted through High Court transfer notifications.