Muzaffarnagar, August 20, 2026: Around 100 murder cases pending before the fast-track court of Additional District and Sessions Judge Ravi Kumar Diwakar in Uttar Pradesh’s Muzaffarnagar have been transferred to another court after he awarded death sentences to 22 people in 10 cases over the past four months.

The cases, involving offences punishable by death or life imprisonment, have been transferred to the court of District and Sessions Judge Virendra Kumar Singh, according to a government counsel quoted by PTI.

Lawyers raise concerns over death penalties

District Bar Association president Pramod Tyagi said lawyers and litigants had expressed apprehension over the possibility of capital punishment being awarded in the pending cases.

Judge Diwakar has been serving as Additional District and Sessions Judge in Muzaffarnagar since November 2025 and is known for strong verdicts. He had earlier gained national attention after ordering a videography survey of the Gyanvapi complex in Varanasi in 2022.

22 death sentences in four months

Judge Diwakar awarded death penalties in several serious murder cases between April and August.

On August 13, he sentenced four people to death for the 2014 murder of Pawan Kumar in Shamli. On August 12, he awarded the death penalty to Shahnawaz for kidnapping and murdering wood trader Saleem for ransom in a 1999 case.

On July 17, four men were sentenced to death for the 2011 murder of farmer Raj Singh during an attempted robbery.

Earlier, on July 6, former village head Pramod and his associate Sahdev were sentenced to death for the 2010 murder of Rajbir Singh, which the court classified as a ‘rarest of rare’ case.

Other major cases

On July 2, Deepak was sentenced to death for murdering home guard Ratiram while he was on duty in 2020.

Two people were sentenced to death on June 20 for the murder of Rajendra Saini, while on May 30, a 50-year-old man was awarded the death penalty for the 2011 double murder of Rajesh Devi and her six-year-old son Himanshu.

On April 28, a woman and her three sons received death sentences in a 2019 murder case. On April 6, three people were sentenced to death for the kidnapping and murder of lawyer Mohammad Sameer in 2019 over a monetary dispute.

The transferred cases will now be heard by the court of District and Sessions Judge Virendra Kumar Singh.

Excerpt: Around 100 murder cases have been transferred from Judge Ravi Kumar Diwakar’s court after he awarded 22 death sentences in 10 cases in four months.