New Delhi, Aug 22 The Supreme Court on Tuesday set aside an order of the Kerala High Court staying conviction of Lakshadweep MP and NCP leader P.P. Mohammed Faizal in an attempt to murder case.
A bench of Justices B.V. Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan remitted the matter back to the High Court for a fresh consideration within six weeks, while clarifying that Faizal will continue as the people's representative in the meantime.
The bench said that the High Court did not consider the true position of law with respect to stay on conviction. In its impugned order, the Kerala HC had suspended the conviction saying that if fresh elections would be conducted, it would burden the exchequer.
Against this, the Union Territory (UT) of Lakshadweep had moved the Supreme Court challenging the HC order which had suspended Faizal’s conviction and sentence till disposal of his appeal. It said that the stay of a conviction was not a rule, but an exception.
During an earlier hearing, the top court took a dim view on the grounds on which the Kerala High Court stayed the conviction. It had observed that a conviction could be stayed if the court was of a prima facie opinion that the case is of acquittal and the rule for a stay has to be the same for MPs/MLAs as for other citizens.
In January this year, the Kavaratti Sessions Court convicted four people, including Faizal, in an attempt to murder case of a Congress party leader during the 2009 Lok Sabha polls and sentenced them to imprisonment for various terms for the different offences, including 10 years imprisonment for the offence under section 307 IPC (attempt to murder).
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