In an unexpected development, Bombay High Court's Nagpur bench judge, Justice Rohit B. Deo resigned in the open court here on Friday noon.
Announcing his decision to quit, the second senior-most judge of the bench, he said that he "couldn’t work against his self-respect".
At the time, he was heading a division bench along with Justice M. W. Chandwani, apologised to the lawyers and called them his family.
Apologising to every lawyer present in the court, Justice Deo said: "I scolded you because I wanted you to improve… You people work hard."
He added how he never intended to hurt anyone as all were like a family to him, and "I can’t work against my self-respect".
On October 14, 2022, a division bench of Justice Deo and Justice Anil Pansare had discharged Prof. G. N. Saibaba, a former Delhi University faculty, and five others accused in an alleged Maoist links case, and also ordered their immediate release.
However, after the verdict was challenged by the Maharashtra government, the Supreme Court stayed the release order. On April 19, 2023, the apex court set aside the verdict and remanded the case back with specific directions to assign it to another bench for hearing it afresh.
Justice Deo was born in December 1963 and had served as the Advocate-General of Maharashtra, and Additional Solicitor-General in Nagpur, before he was elevated as a judge in June 2017. He was due to retire in December 2025.
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