Apex court tells HC to decide afresh Mohammed Faizal's conviction suspension

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

Supreme Court on Tuesday set aside a Kerala high court order which suspended the conviction of Lakshadweep MP PP Mohammed Faizal in an attempt-to-murder case. SC directed HC to decide his plea for suspension of sentence afresh in six weeks.

A bench of Justice BV Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan said that the HC order to suspend the conviction was not decided from a proper perspective.

«It is evident that the approach of the Kerala high court was erroneous as it considered only one aspect that the respondent was a member of Parliament,» the bench observed.

Referring to the HC order which said the disqualification would lead to a fresh election and result in enormous expenses, SC said, «we find that the said aspect need not have been the only aspect which could have been considered by the high court. We find that the high court ought to have considered the application seeking stay of conviction in its proper perspective and bearing in mind the relevant judgements rendered by this court and in accordance with law,» it said.
«On this short ground alone, we set aside the impugned order and remand back the matter to HC for reconsideration of the application filed by first respondent herein seeking suspension of his conviction,» the SC bench ordered.

SC, however, said Faizal would continue to be a Lok Sabha MP to prevent a vacuum for the electorate.

The suspension of conviction and sentence would continue until HC decides the case afresh. SC said HC should have examined the gravity of the offence Faizal was convicted for.