Judge Who Ordered Gyanvapi Survey Gets Death Threats From International Numbers

Bareilly: The judge who became a household name two years ago after ordering a videographic survey of the Gyanvapi Mosque complex has complained to police about receiving “malicious calls and death threats from international numbers.”

Additional sessions judge Ravi Kumar Diwakar has written to Bareilly Superintendent of Police that he received a call from an international number on April 15 issuing a death threat.

A similar call was received a few days later.

Justice Diwakar, recently transferred to Bareilly, has sought an investigation into the matter.

The judge and his family had received threats earlier also, soon after he ordered a video survey of Gyanvapi Mosque, located next to Kashi Vishwanath Temple in Varanasi, in April 2022. He also ordered sealing of the wuzu khana (ablution area) within the mosque premises.

Allahabad High Court had earlier directed authorities to provide him and his family Y-category security, which was subsequently reduced to X category.

Following his transfer to Bareilly, Justice Diwakar initiated suo motu action in 2018 Bareilly riots case, and ordered Maulana Tauqeer Raza to face trial for being the alleged mastermind.

Curfew had to be imposed in Bareilly for 27 days after property worth crores of rupees was destroyed.