In a setback, Kerala High Court on Friday refused to stay the 10-year imprisonment against Lakshadweep MP and Nationalist Congress leader (NCP) leader PP Mohammed Faizal in an attempt to murder case.
Faizal had approached the Kerala High Court challenging a trial court's order at Lakshadweep in an attempt to murder case. He had submitted the plea seeking to suspend the 10-year imprisonment on January 12. The court will again consider the application of Faizal on Monday.
The central government has sought more time to file arguments if it is considering staying the verdict.
Earlier, the Kavaratti Sessions Court had convicted four persons, including Faizal for committing offences punishable under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections143, 147, 148, 307, 324, 342, 448, 427, 506 read with 149.
They were all sentenced to undergo 10 years of rigorous imprisonment and were also directed to pay a fine of Rs 1 lakh each for attempting to murder Padanath Salih, the son-in-law of former Union Minister PM Sayeed in relation to a political controversy during the 2009 Lok Sabha elections.
The appeal of Faizal and others contended that "the evidence against the appellants consisted of the depositions of three prosecution witnesses who were workers of the Congress Party, while the appellants belonged to the NCP."
"The evidence is partisan without any corroboration. The weapons that were allegedly used were not recovered and the doctors said that the injuries were not life-threatening and could not have been caused by the type of weapons described by the witnesses. The case in the court is totally opposed to the narration in the first information statement with respect to the weapons and the manner of the occurrence. The overt acts were also different," the appeal added.
( With inputs from ANI )
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