E-Paper
Kerala high court refuses to suspend conviction of Lakshadweep MP in 2009 attempt to murder case
The bench of justice N Nagaresh stayed the punishment awarded to him by a sessions court in Kavaratti.
The Kerala high court on Tuesday declined to suspend the conviction of Lakshadweep MP PP Mohammed Faizal in the 2009 attempt to murder case.
However, at the same time, the bench of justice N Nagaresh stayed the punishment awarded to him by a sessions court in Kavaratti.
Faizal and three others had been convicted and sentenced to imprisonment for period ranging from one month to 10 years by a sessions court in Kavaratti for attempting to murder Mohammed Salih, the son-in-law of late Congress leader and former union minister PM Sayeed in the run-up to the 2009 Lok Sabha polls. Sayeed represented the Lakshadweep Lok Sabha constituency for 10 consecutive terms from 1967 to 2004 and was the Minister of Power in the union cabinet from 2004 to 2005.
The judge observed that there were materials showing prima facie evidence of the criminal acts on the part of the accused and therefore it was not a fit case for suspension of the order of conviction.
There are eyewitnesses who have seen Faizal hitting the victim with an iron rod and a doctor has deposed that if due medical attention was not given, the injuries were sufficient to cause the death of the patient, the court noted. Faizal faces three other criminal cases though he has not been convicted, it observed.
“Criminalisation of election process is of grave concern in our democratic polity. The tentacles of political crimes and criminalisation of election process have started grappling free and fair elections. Incidents of criminal acts being committed even during meeting of legislative bodies are surfacing. Proliferation of crime in election process could garner momentum to cripple Indian democracy, if men with criminal background are allowed to continue to be part of the democratic system. If persons with criminal antecedents are permitted to continue as members of Parliament/legislatures even after conviction by a competent court, that would only send wrong signals to public at large,” the court ruled.
Faizal, who belongs to the Sharad Pawar faction of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), was elected as the MP from Lakshadweep in 2014 and 2019.
Following the conviction by the sessions court, Faizal approached the high court which in January this year suspended the conviction and punishment sentence. The Lakshadweep UT authorities and the victim moved against the high court order in the Supreme Court which in August this year referred the matter back to the high court.
