NIA opposes Rashid Engineer’s plea for interim bail before Delhi HC

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has opposed before the Delhi high court, jailed Jammu & Kashmir MP Rashid Engineer’s petition to be released on custody parole to attend the ongoing Parliament budget session, accusing him of abusing the court’s process by indulging in forum shopping.

The second phase of the Parliament Budget session which began March 10, will conclude on April 4.

In its affidavit filed through special public prosecutor Akshai Malik along with advocate Khawar Saleem, on Monday, the probe agency has asserted that the parliamentarian has already applied for regular bail before the city court, and he thus cannot seek same relief by filing multiple proceedings before different courts.

“At the outset, it is submitted that the appellant is indulging in forum shopping which is an abuse of the process of the court. It is submitted that the petitioner has already applied for regular bail and the same is kept for order on March 19 by the NIA special court. The present petition is seeking to achieve the same and the petitioner cannot be permitted to file multiple proceedings seeking the same relief,” the affidavit which would be considered by a bench of justices Chandra Dhari Singh and Anup Jairam Bhambhani on Tuesday, stated.

The parliamentarian had approached the Delhi high court against the city court’s March 10 order denying him custody parole.

Though the matter was listed before a bench of justices Chandra Dhari Singh and Anup Jairam Bhambhani on Tuesday, the same got adjourned for March 25 at the request of counsel for Rashid as well as NIA.

Also Read: HC seeks NIA response to Engineer Rashid’s plea to attend Parliament

In his petition before the high court, the parliamentarian had asserted that the city court’s order was “erroneous” and his presence in the session was important to effectively represent and address the concerns of the people of his constituency in the said Lok Sabha session. It went on to add that the President had issued him summons to attend the session.

The high court last month had granted him two days custody parole to attend the first leg of the budget session. To be sure, on February 10, a bench of justice Vikas Mahajan while granting two days custody parole to Rashid had said, taken into consideration non availability of the forum to hear the parliamentarian’s application for bail, asserting that the same had rendered him remediless.

On Wednesday, the Delhi high court had sought NIA’s response till March 17.

In its 17-page affidavit, the probe agency asserted that Rashid does not have enforceable right to attend the Parliament session, and the NIA special court has earlier dismissed his petitions seeking the similar relief in July 2024 and March 2025.

Terming the issuance of summons by the President to Rashid as a “routine matter”, the probe agency further argued that the same were not “exclusively sent to him”, and sent to all the parliamentarians and that he was trying to use the reason of attending the session to get away from the rigours of imprisonment.