New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Thursday refused to grant an urgent hearing to Jammu and Kashmir MP Abdul Rashid Sheikh, arrested in a terror funding case, seeking waiver of condition to bear travel expenses for attending the ongoing Parliament session “in-custody”.
The plea was mentioned for urgent hearing during the day before a bench of Chief Justice D K Upadhyaya and Tushar Rao Gedela, which said if the application has been filed, it will come up on Friday on its own.
The counsel said he was seeking deletion of the condition to bear all expenses for travel and other arrangements and not seeking reduction in the amount given by the prison authorities.
“You file the application and it will come up for hearing tomorrow on its own. We have made it clear and we can’t be more clearer,” the bench said.
Rashid, in his application, said the order granting him permission to attend Parliament was uploaded on the court’s website on March 26 afternoon and in the evening his counsel received an email from the jail authorities that he is required to pay around Rs 1.45 lakh each day for travel and related arrangements. This would make a total of Rs 8.74 lakh for six days, the plea said.
He said the applicant is not in a financial position to bear this “excessively high” cost and he is going to fulfil his constitutional duties and ought not to be prejudiced with such high costs.
A division bench of the high court, on March 25, had allowed the Baramulla MP to attend the ongoing Parliament session “in-custody” till April 4 and rejected NIA’s apprehension that he was a flight risk.
The court had imposed several conditions, including that Rashid would be escorted by plain clothed policemen from prison to Parliament on days of the Lok Sabha session between March 26 and April 4 and bear the expenses for the to-and-fro travel and other arrangements.
Rashid, who is facing trial under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) in a 2017 terror funding case, had challenged a March 10 trial court order refusing him custody parole or interim bail to attend Lok Sabha proceedings till April 4.
In the high court, he gave up his plea for interim bail or custody parole and sought to attend the Parliament sessions “in-custody”.
The NIA had opposed the plea saying by allowing him to attend Parliament, would enable him a platform to air his opinions which he could misuse.
The high court, however, said the control of parliamentary proceedings was within the remit of the Lok Sabha speaker and it had no doubt that the proceedings would be conducted with requisite discipline.
The Baramulla MP, who defeated Omar Abdullah in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, is facing trial in a terror funding case with allegations that he funded separatists and terror groups in Jammu and Kashmir.
He has been lodged in Delhi’s Tihar Jail since 2019 after the NIA arrested him in the 2017 terror-funding case. He was granted interim bail for one month in September last year to campaign in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly election.
The NIA’s FIR alleged 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 UAPA.
