Delhi HC Schedules Engineer Rashid's Plea to Attend Parliament for March 25

The Delhi High Court has scheduled a plea, seeking to permit Engineer Rashid MP to attend parliament proceedings from his incarceration, for the 25th of March. 

On the 19th of March, Anup J. Bhambhani and Chandra Dhari Singh were presented with the argument that the NIA had scheduled a verdict for the capture of Baramulla's MP which caused them to postpone the hearing. 

Rashid's attorney claimed that he received the agency’s response to his application on the preceding Monday.

Rashid is currently undergoing trial for the 2017 accused terror funding case under the UAPA, and has contested the decision set on the 10th of March where a lower court refused him the right to a custody parole or bail to participate in the Lok Sabha until the 4th of April. 

The response issued to the appeal by the NIA on the 17th of March claimed that Rashid would not be permitted the freedom to utilize his position as an MP to escape the strict conditions of his imprisonment. The NIA contended that while in legal custody, he could not be afforded the privilege of attending Parliament and thus, could not be granted the interim bail.

The NIA, commenting on Rashid’s case,fexamined the former MK’s influence as ‘unduly powerful’ which could destabilize witnesses on the ground in Jammu Kashmir. Furthermore, the statement that ‘Under section 43D5 of UAPA, an accused cannot be offered bail where there exists reasonable grounds for believing that the accusations against him are, at best, prima facie true has not yet been disproved,” stands.  

Earlier on March 12, the Rashid hearing was adjourned till later in the day when the court expected the response of the NIA, as claimed.  

On soft custody parole, his lawyer went to the Parliament House and asked the court to extend the period of his stay in the ongoing session. This request is similar to the two-day break that was granted in the past.  

Such a break is referred to as a ‘custody parole’ which means the incarcerated individual is escorted by armed escort officers to the designated site.  

The Baramulla Member of Parliament, who ousted Omar Abdullah from the seat after the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, is currently in a courtroom following accusations that he financed partisan politics and terrorist organizations while Wahhabi Kashmiri extremists were operating in the region.  

He has been held in Tihar Jail in Delhi from 2019 following his arrest by NIA on the 2017 terrorist funding inquiry.  

The National Investigation Agency, for example, already referred that case in question to the one where Mr. Rashid was named a co-suspect. Together with the long-time businessman turned politician and co-defendant, Mr Zahoor Watali came.

A special NIA Court on Rashid’s case framed charges against him and the others in March 2022 for Sections 120B (Criminal Conspiracy), 121 (Waging War against the Government), and 124A (Sedition) as well as for Terrorist Act and Terror funding under UAPA provisions. This was after Rashid was chargesheeted in October 2019.