The Central government has recently approved elevation of Dharmesh Sharma who was sessions judge as a judge of the Delhi High Court.
Justice Sharma was serving as the principal districts and sessions judge of Patiala House Court at present.
As a judge he has given some very important verdicts in the recent past including the Unnao rape and murder case. Another important case, he was involved in was Uphaar fire tragedy evidence tampering case.
The Supreme Court collegium had recommended names of three judicial officers as additional judges of the Delhi High Cuurt, the name included Sharma.
The other two judges were Girish Kathpalia and Manoj Jain, who were appointed as additional judges of the high court last month.
Justice Sharma was born in Delhi on June 9, 1963. After completing his BCom (Hons) degree from Delhi University Karori Mal in 1984 , he did his LLB and LLM from the DU’s Campus Law Centre in 1987 and 2001.
In August 2019, justice Sharma who had been a senior judge, the Supreme Court transferred the four Unnao cases from a CBI court in Lucknow to Delhi in a suo motu proceeding, while directing Sharma for completing the trial in a span of 45 days.
From August 2019 to December 16, 2019 a period of about 4 months of hearing Justice Sharma held former Unnao’s BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar guilty of raping a minor girl in 2017.
Although the former Unnao’s former BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar was held guilty of raping a minor girl in 2017, the co-accused Shashi Singh was acquitted in the case.
Justice Sharma was then the special POCSO judge and gave the order of life imprisonment for Sengar.
Another very important case in which Justice Sharma was a part is releasing Ansals brothers in Uphaar Tragedy evidence tampering case
Justice Sharma had overturned an order of the magisterial court, and had ordered the release of real estate tycoons Sushil and Gopal Ansal against the jail term they had already finished, in a case of evidence tampering in the 1997 Uphaar cinema fire, which had claimed 59 lives.
On November 8, 2021, a magisterial court had awarded seven-year jail terms to the real estate barons and they were in prison since.
The court also ordered the release of former court staff Dinesh Chand Sharma and another convict PP Batra against the jail term they had completed since November 8, 2021; however, he upheld the fine of Rs 2.25 crore imposed on each Sushil and Gopal Ansal and Rs 3 lakh each on the other two by the magisterial court earlier.
“We empathise with you (Association of Victims of Uphaar Tragedy chairperson Neelam Krishnamoorti). Many lives were lost, which can never be compensated. But you must understand that penal policy is not about retribution. We have to consider their (Ansals) age. You have suffered, but they have also suffered,” he had said.