Supreme Court sets aside Kerala High Court order suspending conviction of Lakshadweep MP PP Mohammed Faizal; asks HC to re-hear plea

The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the Kerala High Court to decide afresh, within six weeks, the plea by Lakshadweep Member of Parliament (MP) PP Mohammed Faizal to suspend his conviction and sentence in an attempt-to-murder case. [UT Administration of Lakshadweep vs Mohd Faizal and ors].A bench of Justices BV Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan observed that the High Court's order to suspend the conviction was not decided from a "proper perspective."In particular, the top court disagreed with the High Court's decision to suspend the conviction on the ground that large expenses would have to be incurred for fresh by-polls if the MP is not allowed to continue in office, instead of also examining the gravity of the offence he was convicted for.The Supreme Court, therefore, set aside the High Court decision and directed it to hear the matter afresh. However, the top court clarified that the National Congress Party (NCP) leader would continue to be a Lok Sabha MP, as otherwise a 'vacuum' would be created for the electorate. In effect, the suspension of conviction and sentence would continue for the time being. ."We find that the High Court has considered only one aspect of the matter, namely, that the first respondent herein being a Member of the Parliament and a representative of his constituency, any order of suspension of membership which is consequential upon conviction would cause a fresh election to be conducted in so far as the Union Territory of Lakshadweep is concerned which would result in enormous expenses. We find that the said aspect need not have been the only aspect which should have weighed with the High Court ... On this short ground alone, we set aside the impugned order and remand the matter to the High Court for reconsideration," the Supreme Court's order stated..The Supreme Court was dealing with an appeal by the Union Territory of Lakshadweep against the Kerala High Court decision to suspend Faizal's conviction and sentence. Earlier, in February, the top court had refused to stay the High Court ruling and sought Faizal's response in the matter.The appeal raised the concern that going by the High Court order, every conviction and sentence of elected politicians would have to be suspended to avoid the financial burden of bye-elections.A fresh plea, challenging his recent reinstatement to the Lok Sabha, was also tagged with the Union Territory's appeal..Senior Advocates Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Ritin Rai instructed by advocates KR Sasiprabhu, Rohit Sharma and Vishnu Sharma AS appeared appeared for Faizal before the top court today. Additional Solicitor General KM Nataraj appeared for the Lakshadweep administration, and Senior Advocate Menaka Guruswamy appeared for the original complainant..On January 11, a sessions court in Kavaratti 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. All four accused were effectively sentenced to undergo 10 years of rigorous imprisonment by the trial court.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 Kerala High Court, on January 25, suspended the conviction and sentence imposed by the trial court prompting the present appeal before the apex court.After the trial court had convicted Faizal, he was disqualified from holding the office of MP.Subsequently, the Election Commission (EC) had also notified bye-elections to his constituency. However, Faizal had then moved the Supreme Court challenging the EC's announcement.The Supreme Court had disposed of that plea on January 27 after the EC assured the top court that it will act in line with the Kerala High Court order suspending the conviction.inghvi and Ritin Rai instructed by KR Sasiprabhu, Rohit Sharma and Vishnu Sharma A.S..[Read order]