UP: Judge who awarded 23 death sentences claims 'injustice' as 97 cases recalled from his court

Muzaffarnagar: "Where would a judge go if injustice happens to him," Additional District and Sessions Judge Ravi Kumar Diwakar has said while questioning the recall of 97 serious criminal cases from his court.

The judge in Uttar Pradesh's Muzaffarnagar district has been in the spotlight this year after he handed down 23 death sentences in 11 cases. The 23rd death sentence was awarded on September 7.

The judge made the observations in an order acquitting Ashok Bharti in a nearly-11-year-old case under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act. The court cited shortcomings in the prosecution evidence while acquitting Bharti, who was facing trial since 2015 in a case involving the alleged recovery of 150 grams of a contraband.


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The judge said cases in which the hearing has already commenced cannot be withdrawn through an administrative order, without following the procedure laid down by law.

His remarks came in the context of nine administrative orders passed on August 18 by the then Muzaffarnagar district and sessions judge, recalling 97 "part-heard" cases involving serious offences, including murder, from his court.

The judge said such cases cannot ordinarily be recalled once their trial or hearing has commenced and described the action as contrary to law and "without jurisdiction".

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He also questioned whether a judicial officer is bound to comply with an administrative direction of a district judge or a sessions judge if the order itself is contrary to law.

"If an administrative order passed by a sessions judge or a district judge is contrary to the provisions or directions of law and is, therefore, without jurisdiction, can the officer concerned refuse to comply with it?" the judge asked in the 35-page verdict.

He further raised questions about the legal validity of decisions that may subsequently be delivered by a court after cases were shifted under an order that itself was legally invalid.

The judge noted that the administrative orders recalling the 97 cases were passed shortly before the then district judge's retirement and, according to reports, the latter did not even give any reason for withdrawing the cases.

He stressed that the exercise of administrative power must remain within the limits prescribed by law and that orders affecting such cases should disclose the reasons for the action.

"The work of a judge is to do justice and if injustice happens with him, where should he go?" Diwakar asked, while discussing the relationship between the administrative control of a district judge and the judicial independence of subordinate judges.

He also wrote that power must be exercised with responsibility and discretion, warning that unchecked authority could turn a mechanism intended to protect people into one that causes oppression.

The judgment came a day after the judge invoked the famous "tareekh pe tareekh" dialogue from the 1993 Hindi film, "Damini", while acquitting Bharti.

Referring to the over-a-decade-long proceedings, he observed that spending 10 years going through court proceedings is itself a form of punishment and that the mental trauma caused by prolonged litigation can hardly be imagined.

The recall of the 97 cases from Diwakar's court followed the earlier series of capital-punishment verdicts, although the administrative transfer order itself did not state that the death-sentence record was the reason for the recall.

A death sentence given by a sessions court is subject to confirmation by the high court before it can be executed.