New Bombay HC bench to hear G N Saibaba’s appeal from July 17

Nagpur: The appeal filed by former Delhi University professor G N Saibaba and four others against their conviction in a Maoist links case will be heard by a new bench of the Bombay High Court here from July 17.

The petition has been listed for final hearing before Justices Vinay Joshi and Valmiki Menezes of the Nagpur bench, as per the court website.

Besides Saibaba, Mahesh Kariman Tirki, Hem Keshavdatta Mishra, Prashant Rahi Narayan Sanglikar and Vijay Nan Tirki have filed the appeal.

On October 14, 2022, a High Court bench of Justices Rohit Deo and Anil Pansare acquitted Saibaba and the four others on the ground that the sanction to prosecute them under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) was invalid.

The Maharashtra government challenged the decision before the apex court. The Supreme Court in April this year set aside the acquittal and remanded the matter back to the high court for fresh consideration on merits within four months.

A bench of justices M R Shah and CT Ravikumar directed the chief justice of the Bombay High Court to place Saibaba’s appeal and that of other accused not before the same bench which had acquitted them, but another bench.