Mohammed Faizal Padippura, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader and Member of Parliament (MP) from Lakshadweep, approached the Supreme Court, claiming that despite his conviction in an attempted murder case being suspended, he had not been reinstated to parliament.
Senior Advocate AM Singhvi presented the plea before a bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud, Justice PS Narasimha, and Justice JB Pardiwala for urgent hearing.
The bench listed the matter for hearing on March 28, 2023.
“Even though the Supreme Court refused to stay the High Court order which set aside the conviction, he has still not been reinstated in the house. The SLP by the Lakshadweep administration has been heard four times by Supreme Court of India. The matter is coming up tomorrow,” advocate Singhvi stated.
In February, the Supreme Court denied the Lakshadweep administration’s plea for a stay of the Kerala High Court order that had suspended Faizal’s conviction in the case.
A division bench of Justice KM Joseph and BV Nagarathna issued notice on the Union Territory of Lakshadweep’s appeal against the High Court’s January 25 order and scheduled the matter for hearing on March 28.
On January 11, the Kavaratti Sessions Court convicted four people, including Faizal, of attempting to murder Padanath Salih, the son-in-law of former Union Minister and Indian National Congress leader PM Sayeed, in connection with a political squabble during the 2009 Lok Sabha elections. The trial court sentenced each of the four defendants to ten years in prison.
The four convicts filed an appeal with the High Court the next day, on January 12. They also requested that their conviction and sentence be suspended and that they be released on bail while their appeal is pending.
The conviction and sentence imposed by the trial court were suspended by the Kerala High Court on January 25, prompting the current appeal before the top court.
After the trial court convicted Faizal, he was disqualified from holding the office of Member of Parliament, and the Lok Sabha Secretariat issued a notification in this regard.
Following that, the Election Commission (EC) declared bye-elections in his constituency.
Faizal, on the other hand, had approached the Supreme Court to overturn the EC’s decision to hold bye-elections.
The Supreme Court dismissed that petition on January 27 after the EC assured the court that it would follow the Kerala High Court’s order suspending the conviction.
