Delhi HC seeks NIA stand on Engineer Rashid’s plea attend Parl on custody parole

The court granted time till Friday to the National Investigation Agency’s (NIA) counsel to seek instructions on the issue

The Delhi high court on Thursday sought the stand of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on letting jailed MP Engineer Rashid, facing trial in a terror funding case, to attend the ongoing Parliament’s Budget session on custody parole.

The court was responding to Rashid’s plea seeking interim bail. (PTI photo)

A bench of justice Vikas Mahajan asked special public prosecutor Akshai Malik to seek instructions despite the agency’s opposition that his release even on custody parole involved security concerns.

“What is the difficulty in sending him (Rashid to the Parliament) in custody? He (Rashid) is an elected Member of Parliament. Come back with instructions tomorrow,” justice Mahajan said to Malik.

The court was responding to Rashid’s plea seeking interim bail from January 30 to April 5 and alternatively seeking his release on custody parole from January 30 to April 4, to attend the session.

In his application, argued by senior advocate N Hariharan and advocate Vikhyat Oberoi, the MP has claimed that his release on interim bail or custody parole would result in his constituency being represented in the Parliament. His application went on to add that the President had summoned him to attend the Parliamentary session.

The application was filed in Rashid’s petition against the city court’s December 23 order, refusing to pass an order in his bail application, citing jurisdictional issues.

Besides challenging the December 23 order, the MP had also sought for directing city court to pronounce orders, asserting that the additional sessions judge had considered his bail application in detail, had reserved the same for orders in August 2024, but later “erroneously” refused to pass an order citing jurisdictional issues.

The MP had also asserted that the inaction had resulted in violation of his fundamental right to life and personal liberty safeguarded under Article 21 of the Constitution since he was suffering incarceration as an undertrial prisoner.

In its affidavit submitted on February 2, the NIA had opposed Rashid’s interim bail citing his ability to influence witnesses residing in the Baramulla– the constituency from which he was elected, due to his position. The agency had further asserted that Rashid did not have a vested right to attend the session, irrespective of being a parliamentarian.

On Tuesday, the court also issued notice to its registrar general on the issue of designating a court to consider the MP’s bail petition, saying that the MP had been rendered remediless.

This was after senior advocate Siddharth Luthra appearing for the NIA had submitted that the high court’s Registrar General, pursuant to agency’s request of designating the NIA court as the MP/MLA court, had moved an application before the Supreme Court seeking a clarification.

Engineer was arrested under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) case in 2019.

The NIA in its charge sheet claimed that the accused people are involved in using illicit funds to fuel unrest and separatism in Jammu and Kashmir. NIA also claimed that various terror organisations, such as Lashkar-e-Taiba and others, collaborated with Pakistan’s ISI to orchestrate attacks on civilians and security forces.

The NIA court had in 2022 framed charges against Rashid and others, including Hafiz Saeed, Yasin Malik, Syed Salahuddin, Shabbir Shah and Zahoor Ahmed Watali, all of whom are in judicial custody.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had filed a money laundering case against the accused, which had stemmed from the case filed by the NIA.

The first part of the Budget session began on 31 January and concludes on 13 February. The second part of the session will commence on March 10 and conclude on April 4.