A fresh bench of the Bombay High Court will begin hearing the appeal filed by former Delhi University professor G N Saibaba and four other individuals against their conviction in a case involving Maoist connections on July 17.
According to the court website, the plea will be heard in its entirety by Justices Vinay Joshi and Valmiki Menezes of the Nagpur bench.
Along with Saibaba, the appeal has also been filed by Mahesh Kariman Tirki, Hem Keshavdatta Mishra, Prashant Rahi Narayan Sanglikar, and Vijay Nan Tirki.
Saibaba and the other four defendants were exonerated on October 14, 2022, by a High Court panel composed of Justices Rohit Deo and Anil Pansare on the grounds that the authorization to prosecute them under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) was unlawful.
The ruling was contested before the Supreme Court by the Maharashtra government.
The Supreme Court overturned the conviction in April of this year and sent the case back to the top court for a new, merits-based hearing within four months.
The chief judge of the Bombay High Court was given the order by a bench of justices M R Shah and CT Ravikumar to have the appeals of Saibaba and the other defendants heard by a different bench rather than the one that had previously exonerated them.
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Written By- Smrutiman Anantveer Mohanty, College Name- Army Law College, Pune, Intern under Legal Vidhiya
