The Kerala High Court on Tuesday rejected the plea of Lakshadweep MP Mohammed Faizal to suspend his conviction in a murder attempt case. However, the suspension of sentence of Faizal and three others, as per an earlier High Court order, would continue pending final disposal of their appeal. A Bench of Justice N Nagaresh considered the matter after the Supreme Court on August 23 set aside the High Court’s earlier order suspending his conviction, 10 years of imprisonment, for attempting to kill Mohammed Salih, son-in-law of late Congress leader and former Union minister P M Sayeed, during the 2009 Lok Sabha polls. The apex court had directed the HC to decide the matter afresh in six weeks. In his order, Justice Nagaresh on Tuesday said as there are materials prima facie evidencing the criminal acts on the part of the accused, “this is not a fit case to suspend the order of conviction imposed on the second petitioner (Faizal). The prayer for suspension of the order of conviction is therefore rejected. The suspension of sentence of the four accused, as per the High Court order of January 25, and the conditions subject to which the sentence is suspended, will continue pending final disposal of the appeal.’’ “Proliferation of crime in the election process could garner momentum to cripple Indian democracy. 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,” said the judge. On January 11, 2023, a Kavaratti sessions court sentenced Faizal and three others to 10 years in jail and imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh on each of them in the murder attempt case. The Lok Sabha Secretariat then notified Faizal’s disqualification as an MP. On January 25, the High Court suspended Faizal’s conviction and sentence, noting the LS polls were only one-and-a-half years away and a bypoll at this juncture would lead to wasteful expenditure.
