Kerala High Court suspends conviction, sentence of former Lakshadweep MP Mohammed Faizal in attempt to murder case

The Kerala High Court on Wednesday suspended the conviction and sentence imposed by a trial court on Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader and now former Member of Parliament (MP) from Lakshadweep, PP Mohammeed Faizal, in an attempt to murder case, till disposal of the appeal [Sayed Mohammed Noorul Ameer & Ors. v Union Territory of Lakshadweep]..Justice Bechu Kurian Thomas delivered the verdict and opined that the the case relating to Faizal fell in the category of rare and exceptional circumstances and that the ramifications of not suspending his conviction were enormous. "The consequence of not suspending the second petitioner's (Faizal's) conviction is drastic not only for him but also for the nation. A cumbersome process of election will have to be started and its exorbitant cost will have to be borne by the nation and indirectly by the people of this country", the single-judge opined. .The judge went on to record that the enormity of that administrative exercises required for the conduct of election will inevitably lead to various developmental activities in Lakshadweep coming to a halt for a few weeks, at least. It was further stated that the societal interest in averting an expensive election, that too when the elected candidate could only continue for a limited period alone if the fresh election is conducted, could not be ignored. .Justice Thomas explained that the societal interest and need to have purity in politics will have to be balanced."It is necessary that purity in politics and consequently in democracy is required to be infused. The decriminalisation of politics is an essential requirement of every democracy. As a constitutional court it is the bounden duty to advance constitutional objectives including purity in politics. However these lofty principles cannot be the basis to deny the application of rule of law", the court added. .The High Court also suspended the sentence of the other three petitioners, but not their conviction..On January 11, the Kavaratti Sessions Court had convicted four persons, including Faizal, 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.The trial court convicted them of committing offences punishable under several provisions of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) including under Section 307 (attempt to murder). They were all sentenced under each of the offences alleged but since the sentences were to run concurrently, they would effectively have to undergo 10 years rigorous imprisonment..The very next day, on January 12, the four convicts moved an appeal before the High Court. They also filed applications to suspend their conviction and sentence and release them on bail during the pendency of their appeal.The appeal stated that the evidence against the appellants consisted of the depositions of three prosecution witnesses who were workers of the Congress Party, while the appellants belonged to the NCP. Therefore, it was contended that the evidence is partisan and without any corroboration. .The Lakshadweep Police filed an objection to the applications for suspending sentence and conviction, through Special Prosecutor for the Union Territory of Lakshadweep S Manu. It was pointed out that Faizal is actually involved in two other serious crimes and he is presently facing trial in one of those cases. .It was also argued that Supreme Court has held that the prohibition under Section 8(3) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 entails disqualification to a person convicted and sentenced with imprisonment for more than two years."The intention of such intervention of the Hon’ble Supreme Court is to ensure that law breakers shall not continue as law makers. Therefore, utmost circumspection is required when convicted politicians including an elected representative are seeking suspension of conviction also. In this regard it may kindly be noted that the Hon’ble Supreme Court as well as different Hon’ble High Courts have rejected the prayers of several elected representatives to suspend their conviction for enabling them to contest elections," the objection stated..Consequent to the conviction in the present case by the trial court, Faizal was disqualified from holding the office of Member of Parliament and a notification in this regard has already been issued by the Lok Sabha Secretariat.Faizal has also moved the Supreme Court challenging the announcement by the Election Commission (EC) to hold bye-elections in his constituency after his disqualification.The matter was mentioned last Friday before Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud for early listing. The CJI agreed to hear the case on January 27..[Read our live coverage of the pronouncement below].[Read Order]