Baramulla MP Engineer Rashid seeks interim bail to attend Parliament session

NEW DELHI: The Delhi high court on Thursday asked the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to respond to a petition by Jammu and Kashmir parliamentarian Engineer Rashid seeking interim bail in a terror funding case to attend the upcoming Parliament session.

A bench of justice Vikas Mahajan asked senior counsel Sidharth Luthra, who appeared for the federal agency, to seek instructions and fixed February 4 as the next date of hearing.

Rashid, who defeated National Conference leader Omar Abdullah from Baramulla Lok Sabha seat in 2024, has been in Tihar jail since August 2019. He approached the high court to seek directions to a city court to decide his bail plea in a terror-funding case. On December 23, additional sessions judge Chander Jit Singh refused to pass an order on his bail plea, citing jurisdictional issues.

At Thursday’s hearing, Rashid urged the court to release him on interim bail from January 30 to April 5 or on custody parole from January 30 to April 4 in case the court was not inclined to grant interim bail.

The single-judge bench asked the NIA to respond. “However, Mr Hariharan (who represented Rashid) appearing for the petitioner submits that in the meanwhile he may be granted interim bail. Mr Siddharth Luthra appearing for the respondent seeks time to take instructions on the plea to be released on interim bail for attending Parliament session. Renotify on 4/02/2025,” the court said in the order.

In his petition challenging the lower court’s order, the Baramulla MP said the additional sessions judge considered his bail application in detail, reserved the same for orders in August 2024, but later “erroneously” refused to pass an order citing jurisdictional issues. The MP also asserted that the inaction 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.

During the hearing, the parliamentarian represented by senior advocate N Hariharan urged the court to release his client on interim bail asserting that the Parliament session was commencing from Friday. He underlined that his regular bail application had been pending before the city court since September.

Senior advocate Luthra, special public prosecutor Akshai Malik and advocate Khawar Saleem, who appeared for NIA, opposed the plea, asserting that he had no right to attend the session, despite being a parliamentarian.

“On law, merely because he is a Member of Parliament, he has no right to attend the Parliament,” the senior lawyer said. He further submitted that the high court’s registrar general, pursuant to NIA’s request to designate the NIA court as the MP/MLA court, had moved an application before the Supreme Court seeking a clarification in this regard.

Rashid was arrested under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) case in 2019. In its charge sheet, NIA alleged that Rashid and his associates were involved in using illicit funds to fuel unrest and separatism in J&K.

In 2022, the NIA court framed charges against Rashid and others, including Zahoor Ahmed Watali. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) also has a money laundering case against the accused, which stemmed from the case filed by NIA.