Additional District and Sessions Judge Ravi Kumar Diwakar, who awarded 23 death sentences in 11 cases over six months, has been transferred from a fast-track court to a family court in Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh.
Under an order issued by the Allahabad High Court, Diwakar has been appointed Additional Principal Judge of the family court. Judge Shiv Kumari will take over as the Additional District and Sessions Judge at the fast-track court previously headed by him.
Between April and September 2026, Diwakar awarded 23 death sentences across 11 cases. He had earlier drawn national attention in 2022 when, while posted in Varanasi, he ordered a videographic survey of the Gyanvapi mosque complex.
His recent tenure in Muzaffarnagar also saw a dispute over the withdrawal of 97 part-heard cases involving murder and other serious offences from his court. The cases were recalled through administrative orders issued in August by the then District and Sessions Judge, B.K. Singh.
In a subsequent 35-page judgment acquitting an accused in a nearly decade-old case under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, Diwakar questioned whether cases in which hearings had already begun could be withdrawn through administrative orders without following the prescribed legal procedure. He also raised concerns about judicial independence and the limits of administrative powers.
The transfer order does not establish that the number of death sentences or the dispute over the withdrawn cases was the reason for his reassignment.