In a rare and striking courtroom declaration on Monday, Additional District and Sessions judge Ravi Kumar Diwakar asserted, while pronouncing capital punishment in a dowry death case, that he would prefer death over being called a “coward judge. He further alleged that several serious cases were recalled from his court to benefit mafias and criminals.
The judge made these remarks while pronouncing his judgment and awarding the death penalty to a man who burnt his wife over dowry demands, as per the report.
Diwakar, in his judgment, said he would prefer death to being known as a coward judge.
Dowry case in court – What happened?
In her statement recorded before her death, Shehzadi alleged that Nadeem had set her ablaze, PTI further reported, citing government counsel Kuldeep Kumar. Nadeem had allegedly set his 23-year-old wife, Shehzadi, on fire on July 23, 2018, in Shahpur town over dowry demands. The counsel noted that with Nadeem’s case, Diwakar’s court has now ordered the death penalty for 23 individuals across 11 cases within four months.
The judge reportedly sought protection from senior officers after his security cover in Muzaffarnagar was allegedly curtailed.
