Lucknow: About 100 murder cases pending before Additional District and Sessions Judge Ravi Kumar Diwakar of a fast track court in Muzaffarnagar in western Uttar Pradesh have been transferred to a different judge, purportedly in view of his track record of awarding death sentences to 22 persons during the last four months.
The cases, involving offences punishable with death or life imprisonment, were transferred to the court of District and Sessions Judge Virendra Kumar Singh, said a government counsel.
It may be recalled that Judge Ravi Kumar Diwakar had earlier been in the news for passing an order to conduct a court monitored videography survey of the Gyanvapi complex in Varanasi in 2022.
A resident of Lucknow, Diwakar, 46, started his career as an additional civil judge in Azamgarh in 2009. He was then elevated as a civil judge in Sultanpur in May 2015 and as a judicial magistrate about five months later.
On August 13, he awarded death sentences to four persons in a 12 year old murder case. He also imposed a fine of Rs 1.70 lakh on the convicts, Ramvir, Rajiv, Rahul and Harender Kumar, after holding them guilty of murdering Pawan Kumar.
The accused had entered Kumar's house and opened fire during an attack allegedly stemming from an old rivalry in Shamli district on July 14, 2014.
Kumar was killed in the firing, while his brother, Ashok Kumar, sustained bullet injuries.
On August 12, he awarded the death penalty to a man named Shanawaz for kidnapping and killing a wood trader, Saleem, for ransom nearly 27 years ago in 1999.
On July 17, he sentenced four men to death for the murder of a farmer in August 2011 during an attempted robbery in Shamli district.
On July 6, he sentenced a former village head and his associate to death in a 2010 murder case. He observed that the case fell in the "rarest of rare" category.
Rajbir Singh, 60, was shot dead over enmity related to panchayat elections on August 24, 2010. The former village head, Pramod, and his associate, Sahdev, were later arrested for the murder.
On July 2, Judge Ravi Kumar Diwakar convicted a man of murdering a home guard on duty and awarded him the death sentence, holding that the case fell in the "rarest of rare" category.
On June 20, he sentenced two persons, Gajendra and Ramkiran, to death in connection with the murder of Rajendra Saini.
On May 30, his fast track court awarded the death penalty to a 50 year old man for killing a woman and her six-year-old son in a case dating back nearly 15 years. The victims, Rajesh Devi, 30, and her son Himanshu, were murdered in Muzaffarnagar district on November 7, 2011.
On April 28, Judge Diwakar sentenced a woman and her three sons to death in a 2019 murder case.
On April 6, the Muzaffarnagar fast track court awarded death sentences to three persons in connection with the kidnapping and murder of a lawyer in 2019.
According to the prosecution, the victim, lawyer Mohammad Sameer, was kidnapped and later killed over a monetary dispute involving Rs 45 lakh on October 15, 2019.