However, soon after his return to LS, came a mighty dampener from the SC, which questioned the high court order. Responding to a plea of Lakshadweep administration, a bench of Justices K M Joseph and B V Nagarathna questioned the very ground that HC had cited to stay his conviction in the attempt to murder case. It noted that the HC had said that it was a case of simple injury, but the nature of injury showed that it was a grievous injury.
‘MPs facing poll ban must not get special treatment’
The court noted that the HC had said that it was a case of simple injury, but the nature of injury showed that it was grievous injury, and the victim could have lost his life had proper medical treatment not been provided to him and had he not been airlifted.
Agreeing to examine the plea of administration against the order of the HC which had stayed his conviction, the bench said that staying of conviction should be done in a rare and exceptional case and made it clear that MPs and MLAs who face threat of disqualification after being convicted in criminal cases should not be given special treatment while staying their conviction.
Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for Faisal submitted that conviction in a criminal case not only affected lawmakers but also government servants as well as people involved in running a company. He said there was nothing wrong in the HC order to stay the conviction.
The court after a brief hearing directed the administration to place before it deposition of all relevant witnesses in the case to decide the plea against the stay on conviction.
Just hours before the court took up the case, the LS secretariat passed an order saying, “In view of order dated 25.01.2023 of the high court of Kerala, the disqualification of Shri Mohammad Faizal P. P., notified vide Gazette Notification no. 21/4(1)/2023/TO(B) dated the 13th January, 2023 in terms of the provisions of Article 102(1)(e) of the Constitution of India read with Section 8 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, has ceased to operate subject to further judicial pronouncements.”
Faizal was disqualified from Lok Sabha on January 13, after he and three others were sentenced to 10-year rigorous imprisonment and fined Rs 1 lakh each by a sessions court in Kavaratti for attempting to murder Mohammed Salih, son-in-law of the late Union minister P M Sayeed, during the 2009 LS elections. NCP on Wednesday welcomed Faizal’s return to Parliament, but expressed strong displeasure over the protracted delay by the LS secretariat in restoring his right to attend the House he was elected to. On Wednesday, Faizal met LS Speaker Om Birla along with NCP floor leader Supriya Sule.
02:08
“Delay is not appreciated…” Lakshadweep MP PP Mohammed Faizal’s LS membership restored
Disqualified as MP, Azam son in SC for stay on conviction
Alleging that the Allahabad HC was not giving an early hearing on his plea to stay his conviction for blocking traffic in a 2008 case, Samajwadi Party functionary Abdullah Azam Khan approached the SC, which on Wednesday agreed to hear his petition and posted the matter to April 5.
Appearing for Khan, senior advocate Vivek Tankha and lawyer Summer Sodhi pleaded with a bench of Justices KM Joseph and BV Nagarathna to stay the conviction and the two-year sentence as the Election Commission has initiated the process to conduct bypolls in UP’s Suar assembly constituency that the SP politician represented before his disqualification. The court asked the counsels to furnish the copy of his petition to the state government, which could respond on the plea on the next date of hearing.
03:10
Lakshadweep MP PP Mohammed Faizal’s LS membership restored ahead of Supreme Court hearing
