An NIA court has requested the Allahabad High Court to enhance the security cover for Judge Ravi Kumar Diwakar, who allowed a videographic survey of the disputed Gyanvapi structure in 2022. He has been receiving threats to his life and his family members’ lives ever since. Notably, an NIA court’s special judge Vivekanand Sharan Tripathi has written a letter to the Registrar General of the Allahabad High Court seeking more protection for Judge Diwakar.
The development comes three weeks after an FIR was filed against an accused named Adnan Khan for threatening additional sessions judge Diwakar.
In his letter, Special Judge Tripathi said, “Investigations have revealed that Islamic fundamentalists are plotting to kill Judge Diwakar… This is a sensitive issue. If the activities of Adnan are not curbed, it could lead to an untoward incident.”
It is pertinent to note that Judge Diwakar is now an additional sessions judge in Bareilly. Earlier, he also wrote a letter to the UP Chief Secretary, expressing concerns about his current security. In the letter, he stated that Islamic fundamentalists are brainwashing the minority community and labelling him a Kafir, putting his life in danger.
The letter stated, “On 13th May 2022, after the Allahabad HC’s order, my family and I were provided security, but the current level seems inadequate. It is clear that the Islamic fundamentalists are brainwashing members of the minority community and turning them against me by labelling me a kafir to get me killed. Hence this letter is being forwarded to provide adequate security to me and my family.”
Furthermore, on 25th April 2024, judge Diwakar informed Bareilly police that he was receiving “malicious calls and death threats from international numbers”. He had also demanded a probe into the threats against him.
Earlier, following a similar threat concern voiced by the judge shortly after the Gyanvapi decision in 2022, the Allahabad High Court ordered Y-category protection for him and his family, which eventually switched to X-category.
Speaking with the Times of India, his associate stated that his current security detail includes two personnel who are inadequately equipped for a potential terrorist attack. “They are not even equipped with adequate modern weapons in case of a terrorist attack,” the associate said.
Threats against Judge Diwakar have persisted since June 2022, when Varanasi police investigated a threatening letter from the Islamic Aagaz Movement’s president. The threatening letter contained offensive remarks about his family and the Prime Minister, prompting enhanced security measures for him.
Back in 2022, Judge Ravi Kumar Diwakar expressed concerns about his safety after he allowed a videographic survey of the disputed Gyanvapi structure to determine if a temple existed underneath. He said that an atmosphere of fear is being created and that he is worried about his family’s safety as well. “The fear is so much that my family is always concerned about my safety and I am concerned about their safety”, he said.
Meanwhile, last year, a member of banned Popular Front of India (PFI) was apprehended outside the judge’s residence in Lucknow. Shahjahanpur SSP Ashok Kumar Meena then posted a gunner at the residence of Justice Diwakar’s brother, who also serves as an additional district judge. However, the security cover was removed due to the Lok Sabha elections.
Earlier this month, on 3rd June, the UP ATS investigation officer filed an FIR against an accused named Adnan Khan under several IPC sections and the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA). Khan allegedly used his Instagram account to issue threats against Judge Diwakar, encouraging violence against him.
The FIR by ATS officer Prabhakar Ojha said, “Adnan Khan runs an Instagram account through which a threat has been issued to judge Ravi Kumar Diwakar, who is hearing the Gyanvapi mosque case in Varanasi.”
