Kerala High Court refuses to suspend conviction of Lakshadweep MP PP Mohammed Faizal in attempt to murder case

The Kerala High Court on Tuesday refused to suspend the conviction of Lakshadweep Member of Parliament (MP) PP Mohammed Faizal in an attempt to murder case. .The High Court, however, suspended his sentence in the case.The High Court had previously suspended Faizal's conviction and sentence but in August this year, the Supreme Court set the order aside and directed the High Court to reconsider and decide Faizal's plea afresh within a period of six weeks..Justice N Nagaresh then heard the matter afresh and passed the order today suspending the sentence against four persons including Faizal who were convicted by the trial court.However, the plea by Faizal to suspend his conviction was turned down by the High Court, thereby disqualifying him as the MP.The Court said that the proliferation of crime in the election process could garner momentum if men with criminal backgrounds are allowed to continue to be part of the democratic system."Criminalization of election process is of grave concern in our democratic polity. The tentacles of political crimes and criminalization of the election process have started grappling with free and fair elections. .. If persons with criminal antecedents are permitted to continue as Members of Parliament (MP) / Legislatures even after conviction by a competent court, that would only send wrong signals to the public at large," the Court said.The Court said there was prima facie evidence against the MP."As there are materials prima facie evidencing the criminal acts on the part of the accused, I am of the firm view that this is not a fit case to suspend the order of conviction imposed on the 2nd petitioner (Faizal). The prayer of the 2nd petitioner (Faizal) for suspension of the order of conviction is therefore rejected. The suspension of sentence of accused 1 to 4 as per order dated 25.01.2023 and the conditions subject to which the sentence is suspended, will continue pending final disposal of the appeal," said the order..On January 11, a sessions court in Kavaratti had convicted Faizal and three others for attempting to murder Padanath Salih, the son-in-law of former Union Minister and Indian National Congress leader, PM Sayeed, in relation to a political controversy during the 2009 Lok Sabha elections.All four accused were effectively sentenced to undergo 10 years of rigorous imprisonment by the trial court.The four convicts moved an appeal before the High Court on January 12. They also filed applications to suspend their conviction and sentence and release them on bail during the pendency of their appeal.On January 25, the Kerala High Court suspended the conviction and sentence imposed by the trial court prompting an appeal before the apex court. The High Court pined that the case fell in the category of rare and exceptional circumstances and that the ramifications of not suspending his conviction were enormous.The Union Territory of Lakshadweep filed an appeal against the High Court order before the Supreme Court, arguing that going by the reasoning in the order, every conviction and sentence of elected politicians would have to be suspended to avoid the financial burden of bye-elections..The apex court set aside the High Court decision and directed it to hear the matter afresh, leading to today's verdict..The petitioners were represented by Senior Advocate P Vijaya Bhanu and advocates Sasthamangalam S Ajithkumar, VS Thoshin, Satheesh Mohanan, PA Meera, Sreejith S Nair, Colin Antony Dsruz, Sekhar G Thampi, Girisankar Jyothikumar Sheena, Reshma MS, Nikita J Mendez, and Sruthy N Bhat.The Administration of Lakshadweep were represented by Deputy Solicitor General of India Manu S, Central Government Counsel Sajith Kumar V and advocates GP Shinod, Govind Padmanaabhan, Atul Mathews and Gayathri SB..[Read Order]