Supreme Court Allows Mohammed Faizal To Continue As MP, Stays Kerala HC Order Which Refused To Suspend Conviction

The Supreme Court on Monday (09.10.2023) stayed the recent order of the Kerala High Court passed on October 3rd, refusing to suspend the conviction of disqualified Lakshadweep MP Mohammed Faizal, of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP),in a case of attempt to murder.

A bench of Justice Hrishikesh Roy and Justice Sanjay Karol also said that the order 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. 

Additional Solicitor General KM Natraj strongly opposed the grant of interim order. 

Sr. Adv. Kapil Sibal appearing for Faizal argued that the FIR was later modified to include an iron rod as the murder weapon at a later stage, after Faizal was elected as MP. "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..." 

Sibal argued that in the FIR no weapon was mentioned in the hand of the petitioner. But subsequently, an iron rod was introduced as a weapon of assault in the hand of the petitioner in the FIR. He also informed the Court that at the time of the incident, on 16.04.2009, the petitioner was a political worker but since then he has been elected as a member of parliament in 2014 and 2019 and his term will expire in May 2024. He contended that the Lakshadweep constituency that the petitioner represents should not be allowed to go unrepresented, which is one of the reasons why the stay of the conviction of the petitioner should have been favorably considered by the High Court.

"...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.