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

The Delhi high court on Wednesday sought the National Investigation Agency (NIA)’s response to jailed Jammu & Kashmir lawmaker Engineer Rashid’s custody parole plea to attend the ongoing budget session of Parliament. The second leg of the session began on Monday and would conclude on April 4.

A bench of justices Prathiba M Singh and Rajneesh Kumar Gupta fixed March 18 as the next date of hearing after issuing the notice. “Issue notice. Let the objection if any be filed by the NIA before Monday. List for consideration on Tuesday,” the court said.

Rashid, who has been in custody since 2019 in connection with a terror funding case, has sought interim bail as an alternative. He moved the high court against the city court’s March 10 order denying him custody parole. In his petition, Rashid called the city court’s order “erroneous”.

Rashid said his presence at the budget session was important to effectively represent and address the concerns of the people of his constituency.

Senior advocate N Hariharan, who appeared for Rashid along with advocate Vikhyat Oberoi, said the high court last month granted his client two-day custody parole to attend the first leg of the session.

On February 10, a bench of Justice Vikas Mahajan granted custody parole to Rashid, considering the non-availability of the forum to hear the lawmaker’s bail application. The bench said it had rendered him remediless.

Special public prosecutor Akshai Malik, who represented the NIA along with advocate Khawar Saleem, argued the February 10 order was passed due to forum non-availability. He added a court has since been designated to hear Rashid’s bail. Malik said the court on February 19 reserved the order on Rashid’s bail plea.

In its charge sheet, NIA accused Rashid, who was arrested under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in 2019, of involvement in using illicit funds to fuel unrest and separatism in Jammu & Kashmir.