NEW DELHI: Nearly 100 pending cases have been withdrawn from the court of Indian fast-track sessions judge Ravi Kumar Diwakar and transferred to other courts, after he sentenced 22 people to death in 10 separate murder cases over the past four months. The decision concerns the fast-track court in Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh, where Additional District and Sessions Judge Ravi Kumar Diwakar has been handling serious criminal cases. The 22 people sentenced to death in the past four months were convicted in cases involving murder. Among them were a woman and her three sons, who were sentenced to death in a 2019 murder case.

Fast-track courts in India are established to ensure the speedy hearing and disposal of serious criminal cases.

Why were the cases transferred?

The cases were withdrawn on the orders of District and Sessions Judge Virendra Kumar Singh. An order issued last Tuesday stated that cases pending before the fast-track court were being recalled and transferred to the Muzaffarnagar District and Sessions Court, where they would be heard in accordance with the law. However, the order did not clearly explain why the cases were being transferred. According to reports, some high-profile murder cases were also among those withdrawn.

A government prosecutor told the Press Trust of India (PTI) that cases carrying possible sentences of death or life imprisonment had been transferred from Diwakar’s court to the court of District and Sessions Judge Virendra Kumar Singh. PTI quoted District Bar Association President Pramod Tyagi as saying that lawyers and defendants had become concerned that the court might impose death sentences in these cases.

Who is Ravi Kumar Diwakar?

Ravi Kumar Diwakar, 46, is from Lucknow. He holds B.Com and LLM degrees. He began his judicial career in 2009 as an Additional Civil Judge in Azamgarh. In 2015, he was appointed a Civil Judge in Sultanpur and was promoted to Judicial Magistrate five months later. Since November 2025, he has been serving as an Additional District and Sessions Judge in Muzaffarnagar.

Diwakar has attracted attention in recent months for handing down several harsh sentences in serious criminal cases. Some reports say that before his posting in Muzaffarnagar, he sentenced 13 convicts to death while serving as a judge in Bareilly. If those cases are included, reports say he has sentenced a total of 35 people to death during his judicial career.

Death sentences require higher-court approval

A death sentence imposed by a trial court in India cannot be carried out automatically. It must be confirmed by the relevant High Court, and the convicted person has the right to appeal to the Supreme Court.

Gyanvapi mosque case

Diwakar first came into the national spotlight in 2022 when, while serving as a Civil Judge in Varanasi, he allowed a petition seeking a videographic survey of the historic Gyanvapi mosque complex. The survey included the wuzukhana area, where Hindu petitioners claimed that an old fountain structure was a Shivling. The Supreme Court later transferred the case from Diwakar’s civil court to the district court. The withdrawal of nearly 100 cases from his current court has now drawn renewed attention to his record of imposing death sentences, although the official order transferring the cases has not publicly given a specific reason for the decision.