New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday stayed the Kerala High Court order refusing to suspend the conviction of disqualified Lakshadweep MP Mohammed Faizal in an attempt to murder case.
The Kerala High Court had on October 3 dismissed a plea filed by Lakshadweep MP Mohammed Faizal for staying his conviction in an attempt to murder case. Faizal was disqualified as member of the Lok Sabha for the second time following this.
A bench of Justice Hrishikesh Roy and Justice Sanjay Karol stayed this HC order. Additional Solicitor General KM Natraj strongly opposed the grant of interim order.
Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal appearing for Faizal argued that the FIR was later modified to include an iron rod as the murder weapon at a later stage, after Faizal was elected as MP. Sibal argued that in the FIR no weapon was mentioned in the hand of the petitioner. But subsequently, an iron rod was introduced as a weapon of assault in the hand of the petitioner in the FIR.
He also informed the Court that at the time of the incident, on 16.04.2009, the petitioner was a political worker but since then he has been elected as a member of parliament in 2014 and 2019 and his term will expire in May 2024. He contended that the Lakshadweep constituency that the petitioner represents should not be allowed to go unrepresented, which is one of the reasons why the stay of the conviction of the petitioner should have been favorably considered by the High Court.
The case
A sessions court in Kavaratti had sentenced Lakshadweep MP Mohammed Faizal and three others to 10 years in jail for a murder attempt on former Union Minister PM Sayeed's son-in-law Muhammad Salih.
On the strength of the conviction, Faizal was disqualified from the Lok Sabha by its secretariat in January. However, a single-judge bench of the Kerala High Court suspended Faizal's conviction. In the backdrop of the election commission organising a bye-poll to fill the vacancy, Justice Bechu Kurian Thomas from Kerala High Court expressed concerns about the associated expenditures and observed that the newly elected candidate would be able to function only for a period less than fifteen months. Justice Thomas proceeded to suspend the conviction of the former legislator.
As a result of this verdict, Faizal’s disqualification as a member of parliament was also stayed, as per the information relayed by the election commission in January. Eventually, his membership of the Lok Sabha was restored by a notification by the secretariat.
The suspension of the parliamentarian’s conviction was challenged by the union territory administration, as well as the person he allegedly assaulted.
The Supreme Court quashed the order and directed the appeal to be reconsidered while considering this petition. The Justice Nagaratna-led Supreme Court bench had expressed doubts over the high court’s reason for suspending the parliamentarian’s conviction. Subsequently, the High Court considered the case again.
(With LiveLaw inputs.)