Jharkhand court acquits Cong MLA of case over anti-Adani protest

He had been acquitted of seven such cases, all booked during these protests, making this the eighth in the row.

The case went into trial in 2021 in a special MP and MLA fast track court in Dumka. District and Additional Sessions Judge Laxman Prasad acquitted the 11 accused ‘for lack of evidence’. Two more cases pertaining to the same protests are pending trial.

Legal advisor to Pradeep Yadav, who formerly represented him in earlier cases, told The Indian Express: “The prosecution had presented six witnesses, however, the court acquitted all 11 due to lack of evidence. The detailed order is yet to be uploaded.”

Yadav was booked based on complaints by Yamudhar Mandal, a beetle shop owner, under IPC sections 147 (rioting),148 (rioting with deadly weapon),149 (offence committed by an unlawful assembly) ,341 (wrongful restraint), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 307 (attempt to murder), 504 (insulting someone intentionally to provoke), 506 (criminal intimidation),120B (criminal conspiracy) and 379 (theft).

According to court records, Mandal told the police that on April 20, 2017 in Basantpur area of Godda a few men started pelting stones at his shop, stating he had given land to Adani and did not pay heed to Pradeep Yadav.

“They threatened to kill me and my brother…They took me to the place of protest which was led by Pradeep Yadav. Later at night they came back again and assaulted me and my brother…My left eye got injured. They threatened me that till the time the Dharna continues they would beat me up,” he said.

Pradeep Yadav, however, said that on the seventh day of his hunger strike in Motia village of Godda, he was forcefully taken into custody by the police at 3 am. “The government till then had realised that as long as I was out and free, it was impossible to stop the movement, hence I was kept behind the bars for 6 months on the basis of false charges,” he told The Indian Express.