New Delhi: A Delhi court on Tuesday reserved its order on Lok Sabha MP Engineer Rashid’s plea to attend the monsoon session of Parliament starting July 21.
Additional sessions judge Chander Jit Singh reserved the order for July 21 on the plea of the Baramulla MP who sought either interim bail or custody parole to carry out his duty as a parliamentarian.
Custody parole entails a prisoner being escorted by armed police personnel to the place.
Rashid’s counsel Vikhyat Oberoi submitted that his client should be allowed to attend the parliamentary session by granting interim bail.
In the alternative, Rashid could be allowed custody parole, without payment of travel costs, he added.
The advocate said the trial court granted interim bail to Rashid for campaigning in the state elections on September 10 last year and his client could not be considered a security threat.
The Delhi High Court, Oberoi said, permitted him to attend Parliament in custody on February 10 and 25.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) opposed the plea, saying interim bail should not be granted and custody parole could be allowed only after payment of travel expenses.
Rashid’s counsel opposed payment of travel expenses, saying the MP sought to attend Parliament as his public duty.
Rashid has been lodged in 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 trial in a terror funding case with 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 the Indian Penal Code and for offences relating to terrorist acts and terror funding under UAPA.
