Madhya Pradesh: Congress leader, advocate fight case behind bars in Alot

Alot (Madhya Pradesh): Despite being behind the bars, Congress leader and advocate Yogendra Singh Jadoun, housed in Indore jail, has managed to get his five clients involved in the 2018 Amjaz Qureshi murder case acquitted. Interestingly, Jadoun, a co-accused in Alot Urea Loot case, could not get himself out as his bail pleas were rejected twice.

Jadoun, a senior Congress leader and advocate by profession, has been housed in Indore Central Jail since November 11. The key accused of the case, Alot MLA Manoj Chawla, who was on the run for almost two months, had surrendered before a court in Indore on Monday.

Police had arrested Jadoun from Indore on November 11 and produced him before the court on November 12 from where he was sent to Indore Central Jail. His lawyer had applied for bail twice, but the court rejected his plea since the key accused in the case MLA Chawla was on the run then.

Even as he could get himself bailed out, Jadoun, despite being in jail, was handling many crucial cases in different courts including defending six persons in the Amjad Qureshi murder case in Jaora village of Ratlam district.

The date of final arguments, in this case, was scheduled for January 3. As Jadoun, who was in jail, had to appear in court on behalf of his clients, the

Jaora Court had asked the jailed advocate through Indore Central Jail if he was interested in representing his clients in this case. Jadoun had responded in affirmative.

The Jaora court thereafter directed the authorities to send the case diary to him and also wrote to the Central Jail administration to make required arrangements for video conferencing.

Jadoun had then participated in the final argument through video conferencing and represented six of his clients accused in the murder case. After a final argument, the court had reserved its verdict. On January 9, the court acquitted five out of six clients of Jadoun including Afroz, Mehfoos, Jarrar, Mujju and Vakil alias Shakeel.

Jaora court’s additional public prosecutor Praveen Singh Solanki said that there is a provision in the law that if the advocate of any accused or party is in jail and the conviction has not been proved, then he can plead from jail with the permission of the court. “This is a normal process. We see that many times students even appear for exams while being locked up in jail. The accused in jail have won Sarpanch and other elections,” Solanki said.