The Bombay High Court judge who resigned: Who is Justice Rohit B Deo?

In a surprising turn of events, the Bombay High Court's Justice Rohit B Deo tendered his resignation in open court today..Justice Deo had been elevated to the bench in June 2017 and was set to retire in December 2025.When contacted, Justice Deo revealed that he has resigned for "personal reasons"..He did his early schooling in Goa and college education in Nagpur. He started practising around 1986. Current Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis was one of Deo’s clients.In 2015, he was appointed as the associate Advocate General for the State of Maharashtra. He worked with former Advocates General Sunil Manohar and Shreehari Aney. In March 2016, after Aney resigned from of the post of AG, Deo took over as acting AG. In December 2016, nine months after Aney’s resignation, Justice Deo was made Advocate General for Maharashtra, during Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis’ tenure. He was also the Assistant Solicitor General in the Nagpur Bench.After 30 years of practice, Justice Deo was eventually elevated to the Bench in June 2017, while he was the AG..During his tenure of a little over six years, Justice Deo passed many noteworthy judgments. A couple of his most recent cases involved controversial subjects..On October 14, 2022, the Bench led by Justice Deo acquitted former Delhi University faculty GN Saibaba in an alleged Maoist links case. The acquittal was based on the fact that the sessions court framed charges against Saibaba in the absence of sanction from the Central government.This judgement had been suspended the very next day after the Supreme Court held a special Saturday sitting, and was eventually set aside..On July 26, 2023, a Bench headed by Justice Deo stayed the effect of a government resolution empowering the Maharashtra government to cancel punitive proceedings initiated against contractors working on the Samrudhhi Mahamarg over the alleged illegal excavation of minor minerals. .In January this year, he heard a plea filed by a 61-year-old daily wager and activist, Lalan Kishore Singh, assailing a notice issued to him by the Nagpur Police.The daily wager was summoned for questioning after he filed an application under the Right to Information (RTI) Act seeking information about the security provided at the headquarters of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in Nagpur.The government pleader apologised to the petitioner in court and assured the Bench that the police will not take any further action against him. In view of this statement, the Court disposed of the petition. .During a hearing in May 2020, Justice Deo exception to the unusual and humiliating punishments meted out by police officers under the garb of enforcing COVID-19 lockdowns. The Court directed that no extra-legal measures or punishments should be taken recourse to while enforcing the lockdown..In December 2022, a Bench led by him ruled on the importance of DNA tests while dealing with trials of rape cases. Justice Deo observed that DNA testing had the capability to not only exonerate the wrongly convicted, but also to identify the guilty. With these observations, the Court upheld the life sentence of a 55-year-old man who raped a minor girl, impregnated her and later abandoned her at a hospital when she was in labour..In April 2023, Justice Deo also allowed a petition filed by a woman labourer for a grant of compensation after she suffered injuries in a tiger attack. The Court observed that the forest authorities had casually calculated an amount of ₹10,000 without considering the trauma that she had survived, and enhanced the compensation to ₹1 lakh.

The Bombay High Court judge who resigned: Who is Justice Rohit B Deo?

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