Supreme Court stays conviction of Lakshadweep MP PP Mohammed Faizal

The Supreme Court on Monday stayed a Kerala High Court order refusing to suspend the conviction of Lakshadweep MP PP Mohd Faizal in an attempt to murder case.

By staying the High Court verdict, a bench of Justices Hrishikesh Roy and Sanjay Karol effectively restored the Lok Sabha membership of Faizal who had stood disqualified from the parliament after the High Court order.

The top court while staying the conviction also sought the response of the Lakshadweep administration and the complainants in the case.

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 to 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 by the UT.

The apex court then set aside the High Court decision and directed it to hear the matter afresh.

The High Court then heard the matter again and refused to suspend the conviction though it stayed the sentence. It opined there was prima facie evidence against the MP.

This led to the present appeal by Faizal before the top court.

Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal and Indrajit Mahanty and advocates KR Sasiprabhu, Satyajit Mahanty, Rohit Sharma, Nikhil Purohit, Jatin Lalwani, and Vishnu Sharma appeared for Faizal.

Additional Solicitor General KM Nataraj appeared for the Union Territory.

Senior Advocate Menaka Guruswamy appeared for the complainant.