100 cases pending before judge Ravi Kumar, who awarded death sentences to 22 in four months, transferred

LUCKNOW: Death sentence is the maximum punishment for the accused in India. Usually death penalty is awarded only in the rarest of rare cases. However, a judge recently grabbed headlines by awarding death penalty to all the accused. He is Muzaffarnagar Additional District and Sessions Court Judge Ravi Kumar Diwakar. 100 murder cases have now been transferred from his court.

Ravi Kumar has awarded 22 death sentences in 10 cases in the last four months. The 100 cases have now been transferred through an administrative order of the apex court. The cases involve crimes that carry the maximum penalty of death or life imprisonment. District sessions judge Virendra Kumar Singh recalled the cases to his own court through an administrative order issued yesterday.

District bar association president Pramod Tyagi said that lawyers and human rights activists shared concerns about him awarding death sentences to all the convicts. Before taking charge in Muzaffarnagar, 13 death sentences were awarded in a court in Bareilly. He had sentenced 35 people to death in total.

His first death sentence was awarded on April 6 after being appointed in Muzaffarnagar. He awarded death sentence to three convicts in the murder of a lawyer. He then awarded death sentence to four members of a family on April 28. There are some in favor of the judgement and some against the verdict. Only if the high court confirms the death sentence imposed by a sessions court can it be carried out.