Who is Ravi Kumar Diwakar? The UP judge behind 23 death sentences in five months

Ravi Kumar Diwakar, an Additional District and Sessions Judge in Muzaffarnagar, has drawn attention after his court handed down 23 death sentences in 11 cases over the past four months. He is now in the spotlight again after speaking about the transfer of around 100 serious criminal cases from his court.

Diwakar has alleged that the cases were moved to benefit mafias, gangsters and criminals. He has also spoken about threats and pressure, saying he would “prefer death” to being known as a “coward judge”.

Who is Ravi Kumar Diwakar?

Diwakar joined the Uttar Pradesh judicial service as a civil judge in 2009. Over the years, he has served in Sultanpur, Budaun, Varanasi and Bareilly. He has been posted in Muzaffarnagar since November 2025.

He first drew national attention in 2022 while serving as a civil judge in Varanasi, when he ordered a videographic survey of the Gyanvapi mosque complex.

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The order brought him widespread attention. He later reported receiving death threats and malicious calls from international numbers.

Diwakar was in the news again in March 2024 after describing Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath as an example of Plato’s “philosopher king” in an order related to the 2010 Bareilly riots. The Allahabad High Court later expunged those remarks.

Why is he in the news now?

The latest incident centres on a large number of murder cases that were earlier pending before Diwakar’s court.

Around 100 murder cases were transferred in August to the court of District and Sessions Judge Virendra Kumar Singh through an administrative order. The move came amid concerns among lawyers and litigants that the fast-track court could award capital punishment.

The transfer followed a series of death sentences from Diwakar’s court. With his latest verdict, his court has awarded the death penalty to 23 convicts in 11 cases over the past four months, government counsel Kuldeep Kumar said.

The cases previously handled by Diwakar included the murders of a lawyer, a home guard and a farmer, as well as a highway robbery-murder.

‘I would prefer death’

In his latest judgment, Diwakar spoke about the pressure he says he has faced while handling serious criminal cases.

“I would prefer death to being called a coward judge.”

He said his parents had taught him to fear God and no one else. If judges begin performing their duties out of fear of criminals, he argued, public faith in the judiciary would suffer.

Diwakar also claimed that he had received threats from mafias and criminals.

It is learnt that he has sought protection from senior officers, alleging that his security cover in Muzaffarnagar has been reduced.

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The latest death penalty case

The latest sentence involved a man convicted of burning his 23-year-old wife to death over dowry demands.

The woman was set ablaze on July 23, 2018, and was later taken to Delhi’s Safdarjung Hospital, where she died. In a statement recorded before her death, she said Nadeem had set her on fire.

All 11 prosecution witnesses turned hostile during the trial. The court nevertheless convicted Nadeem on the basis of his wife’s dying declaration.

The court awarded him the death penalty and imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh.

Diwakar’s latest remarks have brought renewed attention to a judge whose career has repeatedly intersected with some of Uttar Pradesh’s most closely watched legal controversies.