Delhi court reserves order on Engineer Rashid's plea to attend Parliament
Rashid, who defeated National Conference leader Omar Abdullah in the Baramulla seat by over two lakh votes in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, has been lodged in Tihar jail since 2019 in a 2017 terror funding case.
Represented by advocates Aditya Wadhwa, Vikhyat Oberoi and Nishita Gupta, Rashid argued in court that he should either be granted interim bail or permission to attend Parliament in custody, without payment of travel costs.
The lawyers also argued that Rashid had been granted interim bail in September last year for campaigning for the elections and since this bail had been extended thrice, he could not be considered a security threat.
Opposing his plea, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) argued that Rashid should not be granted bail and if he is allowed to attend Parliament in custody, then he should be made to pay the travel expenses.
Rashid's lawyers argued that he shouldn't be made to pay travel expenses as he was seeking to attend Parliament as his public duty and not for some personal work.
After hearing the arguments from both sides, Additional Sessions Judge Chander Jit Singh reserved the order for July 21.
Earlier this year, the Delhi High Court had allowed Rashid to attend Parliament on two occasions – on March 10 and February 25.
The MP was arrested on August 9, 2019, four days after the abrogation of Article 370 and the removal of J&K's special status.
According to the NIA, Rashid used various public platforms to 'propagate the ideology of separatism and secessionism', and was closely associated with various terrorist organisations. The agency had also alleged that he wanted to 'legitimise' the United Jihad Council (UJC), a platform of anti-India militant groups in J&K.
According to the NIA, Rashid's name cropped up during the interrogation of businessman and co-accused Zahoor Watali.
After being chargesheeted in October 2019, a special NIA court framed charges against Rashid and others in March 2022 under Sections 120B (criminal conspiracy), 121 (waging war against the government), and 124A (sedition) of the Indian Penal Code and for offences relating to terrorist acts and terror funding under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).
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