Today, Supreme Court issued a stay order, overturning the Kerala High Court's decision from October 3rd, which had declined to suspend the conviction of Mohammed Faizal, the disqualified Member of Parliament from Lakshadweep representing the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). This case pertains to an attempted murder charge in a case of attempt to murder.
The division bench of Justice Hrishikesh Roy and Justice Sanjay Karol in its hearing said that the orders dated 22nd August of the Supreme Court, in which the Court had ordered that the benefit of suspension of conviction to continue while the matter was remanded to the High Court, thus permitting the Mohammed Faizal to continue as a Member of Parliament (MP) representing Lakshadweep, will become operational. The Court also issued notice returnable in 4 weeks in Faizal's plea.
"In the meantime, the operation of the impugned order dated 03.10.2023 of the High Court is stayed. In consequence, the interim order passed in favour of the Petitioner by this Court in remand order dated 22.08.2023, is made operational", the Court dictated in its order.
Sr. Adv. Kapil Sibal appearing for Faizal argued that
"The whole story changes years later after he becomes MP. I argued this matter before the High Court, but it was not considered. This is a fight between congress and NCP. All witnesses are Congress workers. The sessions judge found that there are no independent witnesses..They first came and attacked me and they have been convicted..."
During the legal proceedings, Mr. Sibal argued that the initial First Information Report (FIR) did not mention any weapon in the petitioner's possession. However, it was later modified to include an iron rod as a weapon used by the petitioner during the assault, raising concerns about the integrity of the case.
"...the assailants and the injured belong to rival political parties and there was a prior incident of attack on the petitioner's group, which lead to the conviction of the assailants on the order side" the Court recorded while staying the High Court order.
Shortly after the Kerala High Court verdict on 03.10.2023, Faizal had been disqualified from the Parliament. “In view of order dated 03.10.2023 of the Hon’ble High Court of Kerala, Shri Mohammed Faizal P.P., Member of Lok Sabha representing the Lakshadweep Parliamentary Constituency of the Union Territory of Lakshadweep, stands disqualified from the membership of Lok Sabha from the date of his conviction, i.e. 11th January, 2023,” a Lok Sabha Secretariat bulletin stated.
Earlier, on 3rd October, a single bench of Justice N Nagaresh of the Kerala High Court while hearing the matter afresh, refused suspension of his conviction.
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