Delhi HC seeks NIA's response on Er Rashid's plea for custody parole

New Delhi, Mar 12: The Delhi High Court on Wednesday sought the response of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on a plea filed by Lok Sabha member from North Kashmir Engineer Rashid seeking custody parole to attend the ongoing Budget Session proceedings.

The second half of the Budget Session began on Monday and will conclude on April 4. Rashid, who won the Lok Sabha election from Jammu and Kashmir’s Baramulla constituency by defeating National Conference (NC) Vice President and now Chief Minister Omar Abdullah by over two lakh votes while he remained lodged in Tihar Jail, is accused in a terror funding case being probed by the NIA.

A bench of Justices Prathiba M. Singh and Rajneesh Kumar Gupta issued a notice to the NIA on Engineer Rashid's plea and asked the federal anti-terror to file the objection, if any, before March 17.

The matter will be heard next on March 18.

Engineer Rashid has petitioned the Delhi High Court against the March 10 order passed by the special NIA court denying him custody parole.

In his petition, the Lok Sabha member called the city court’s order “erroneous”.

Earlier, a single judge, Bench of Justice Vikas Mahajan, had granted custody parole to Engineer Rashid for February 11 and 13 while imposing a slew of conditions.

Following the Delhi High Court order, Rashid attended the Parliament session amid heavy police security.

As per the Justice Mahajan-led Bench order, Engineer Rashid was directed not to interact with any person except for his limited responsibility of attending the House and to not address the media in any manner.

In November last year, a court here, instead of passing an order on the application for regular bail, had recommended the District Judge to transfer his case to the MP/MLA court as Rashid became an MP. Thereafter, Engineer Rashid moved the Delhi High Court, seeking directions to the trial court judge to expedite a decision on his pending regular bail application or decide the matter itself.

Following the Supreme Court’s clarification on the issue of designation of a court, the Delhi High Court ordered the special NIA court to decide Engineer Rashid’s bail plea.