Lakshadweep MP Mohammed Faizal Moves Kerala High Court Against 10-Year Jail Term In Attempt To Murder Case

Lakshadweep MP Mohammed Faizal has approached the Kerala High Court challenging the decision of Court of Session, Kavarathi to convict and sentence him and three others to 10 years in jail in a case of attempt to murder.

Faizal and the three other accused persons on Wednesday were convicted for offences punishable under Sections 143, 147, 148, 448, 427, 324, 342, 307, 506 r/w 149 of IPC and sentenced by the Sessions Court to undergo 10 years of rigorous imprisonment and also imposed a fine of Rs one lakh each on the convicts for attempting to kill Mohammed Salih, son-in-law of former Union Minister P M Sayeed, during the 2009 Lok Sabha polls. 

In the appeal moved through Advocate Sadthmangalam D. Ajithkumar, the appellants have argued that the trial court judgment and sentence is against the law, facts and evidence. The prosecution case was that the accused along with 33 accused formed themselves into an unlawful assembly and caused hurt to Salih with weapons. 

Faizal and others have averred that the evidence is "partisan/ interested" without any corroboration as the evidence consisted of the depositions of Salih and two other workers of the Congress party and the accused belong to NCP.

Submitting the weapons were not recovered, the appellants have said that the doctors had said that the injuries suffered were not life-threatening and cannot be caused by sharp weapons described by the witnesses. 

The injured and the other two witnesses do not have a consistent case and their evidence does not inspire confidence as they contradict each other on material points, according to the appeal.

"The case of PW1/injured in the court is that Ameen (1st Accused) hit him with a chopper on the back of his head but in the Ext.P1 FIS the weapon used by A1 is a knife alias Vadivaal. This is the contradiction of the weapon of the offence, but the trial court observes that this is a minor contradiction without any significance," the appellants have argued. 

"The case in the court is totally opposed to the narration in the first information statement with respect to the weapons and the manner of the occurrence. The overt acts were also different. When Mohammed Salih (PW1) was confronted with the FIS he disowned the same," the appellants have averred, while praying for setting aside the order passed by Court of Sessions Kavaratti, Union Territory of Lakshadweep.

The matter has been posted for 17th January. 

Case Title: Sayed Mohammed Noorul Ameer and Ors. v. U.T. Administration of Lakshadweep