PATNA, 9 May 2007 — A controversial member of India’s Parliament was sentenced to life imprisonment yesterday by a court in the eastern state of Bihar for abducting a political rival in 1999 who is still missing.

Mohammed Shahabuddin of the Rashtriya Janata Dal party, which is part of the federal coalition, is already serving a two-year term for attempted kidnapping and vandalism in a separate case.

The parliamentarian, who has more than 30 criminal cases pending against him, has been given a month’s time to appeal against the verdict, court officials said. Shahabuddin’s counsel said he would appeal to a higher court after studying the order.

Shahabuddin’s counsel Manoj Singh told reporters that they would challenge the special court’s verdict in the Patna High Court.

RJD spokesperson Shayam Rajak also said they would move the high court to challenge the verdict.

“We will appeal in the higher court and are optimistic that Shahabuddin will get justice,” Rajak said.

Soon after Shahabuddin was sentenced, the Communist Party of India-Marxist-Leninist (CPI-ML) demanded the cancellation of his Parliament membership.

“We welcome the special court’s verdict against Shahabuddin and demand that the Lok Sabha (lower house) speaker cancel Shahabuddin’s membership on the grounds of conviction and life imprisonment in a criminal case,” CPI-ML State Secretary Ramjatan Sharma said.

The party also demanded that RJD chief and Railway Minister Lalu Prasad take action against his convicted party MP.

“We will demand that Lalu Prasad oust Shahabuddin from the RJD, It is high time Lalu should come out either to protect convicted Shahabuddin or reject him,” Sharma said.

But Shahabuddin’s supporters said it was up to the MP to decide whether he wanted to resign or not.

“There is no legal compulsion for him to resign. He is an MP and will continue till 2009 if he wants,” a supporter said.

This is the second time Shahabuddin has been sentenced in a criminal case by the special court. In March, he was convicted of attacking the CPI-ML office in Siwan town on Sept. 19, 1998.

Shahabuddin and his armed supporters bombed the premises, damaged furniture and assaulted office secretary Keshav Baitha. Currently lodged in Siwan jail, he was arrested in Delhi more than a year ago following seizure of arms from his ancestral house in Siwan.