New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Wednesday rejected a plea by jailed Lok Sabha MP from Jammu and Kashmir’s Baramulla, Sheikh Abdul Rashid alias Engineer Rashid, challenging the framing of charges against him in a terror funding case.
A bench of Justices Prathiba M Singh and Madhu Jain said the appeal by Rashid against the trial court order was not maintainable.
It noted that a coordinate bench of the high court has already, in another case, held that an appeal was not maintainable against an order of framing charges as the same was not a final order.
“The present appeal would also not be maintainable and is dismissed as being not maintainable,” said the bench.
The senior counsel appearing for the National Investigation Agency (NIA said that Rashid’s appeal was filed after a delay of 1100 days, which should not be condoned.
The court said since the appeal itself was not maintainable on merit, it was not going into the aspect of delay.
Rashid has been lodged in the Tihar jail since 2019 after he was arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in the 2017 terror funding case.
The Baramulla MP, who defeated Omar Abdullah in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, is facing allegations that he funded separatists and terror groups in Jammu and Kashmir.
According to the NIA’s FIR, 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 IPC and for offences relating to terrorist acts and terror funding under UAPA.
A Delhi court has allowed Rashid to attend the Budget Session of Parliament, which commenced on Wednesday, under custody parole, whereby a prisoner is escorted by armed police personnel to his place of visit.
