Delhi HC lists Engineer Rashid’s plea to attend Parliament for March 25

Rashid, who is facing trial under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) in a 2017 terror funding case, has challenged a March 10 trial court order refusing him custody parole or interim bail to attend Lok Sabha proceedings till April 4

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Tuesday listed a plea filed by jailed Jammu and Kashmir MP Sheikh Abdul Rashid alias Engineer Rashid seeking permission to attend the ongoing Parliament session for hearing on March 25.

A Bench of justices Chandra Dhari Singh and Anup J Bhambhani deferred the hearing after the counsel for the National Investigation Agency (NIA) said a trial court was scheduled to pronounce its verdict on the Independent Baramulla MP’s regular bail plea on March 19. The senior counsel appearing for Rashid said he received the agency’s response to the plea on Monday evening.

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Rashid, who is facing trial under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) in a 2017 terror funding case, has challenged a March 10 trial court order refusing him custody parole or interim bail to attend Lok Sabha proceedings till April 4.

In the reply filed to the appeal on March 17, the NIA said Rashid couldn’t be allowed to use his status as MP to “get away from rigours of imprisonment”. The NIA argued that Rashid could neither be granted interim bail nor allowed custody parole as he had no enforceable right to attend Parliament session while in lawful custody.

Calling Rashid a “highly influential” person who might sway witnesses in Jammu and Kashmir, the NIA said, “Under Section 43D(5) of the UAPA, the accused cannot be granted bail if there are reasonable grounds for believing that the accusations against him are prima facie true.”

On March 12, the high court sought NIA’s stand on Rashid’s appeal. Rashid’s counsel urged the high court to permit him to attend the ongoing Parliament session on custody parole, akin to a previous two-day reprieve granted to him. Custody parole entails a prisoner being escorted by armed police personnel to the place of visit.

The Baramulla MP, who defeated Omar Abdullah in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, is facing trial in a terror funding case with allegations that he funded separatists and terror groups in Jammu and Kashmir. He is lodged in Delhi’s Tihar Jail since 2019 after the NIA arrested him in the 2017 terror-funding case.

According to the NIA’s FIR, Rashid’s name cropped up during the interrogation of businessman and co-accused Zahoor Watali. After being chargesheeted in October 2019, a special NIA court framed charges against Rashid and others in March 2022 under Sections 120B (criminal conspiracy), 121 (waging war against the government), and 124A (sedition) of the Indian Penal Code and for offences relating to terrorist acts and terror funding under UAPA.