Patna High Court today (July 17) allowed convicted Rashtriya Janta Dal Lok Sabha member Mohammed Shahabuddin to participate in the trust vote Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will seek on July 22. A division bench comprising Justice Shivakirti Singh and Justice Abhijit Sinha allowed Shahabuddin's prayer to go to Delhi for the trust vote, after hearing counsel Y V Giri and Rajiv Giri, besides the counsel for the state.
The court asked Shahabuddin, the convicted MP from Siwan, to leave for New Delhi on July 20 and remain there for two days till July 22 to participate in the proceedings of the Lok Sabha. It ordered Shahabuddin to return to Bihar by July 23. The bench also directed the RJD MP to bear his expenses as well as expenses of the policemen escorting him to and from New Delhi.
RJD has issued a whip asking its 24 MPs to ensure their presence in the Lok Sabha when voting would take place on July 22 and support the Congress-led coalition. Convicted in a kidnapping and murder case of a CPI-ML activist, Shahabuddin is undergoing life-term in Siwan jail.
Source: Press Trust Of India 17/July/2008
