HC Asks NIA Stand After Jailed J&K MP Seeks Interim Bail To Attend Parliament

New Delhi, Jan 30: The Delhi High Court on Thursday sought the NIA’s stand on a plea by Jammu and Kashmir MP Rashid Engineer seeking interim bail in a terror-funding case to attend Parliament.
Justice Vikas Mahajan said, “Let the needful be done before the next date of hearing.” Rashid said he wished to attend the upcoming budget session of Parliament, which begins on January 31 and concludes on April 4.
Senior advocate Sidharth Luthra, appearing for the NIA, said he would seek instructions on the issue.
In the alternative, Rashid sought custody parole during the budget session.
The plea forms part of his pending petition on the issue of granting him bail in the case by the NIA.
His main petition urges the high court to either direct the expeditious disposal of his pending bail plea by the trial court or decide the matter itself.
During the hearing, Luthra said the high court administration filed a plea before the Supreme Court for a clarification on the issue.
On December 24 last year, additional sessions judge Chander Jit Singh — who requested the district judge to transfer the case to a court designated to try lawmakers as Rashid was an MP — dismissed his plea asking for an order on the pending bail application in the NIA case.
With the matter sent back to him by the district judge, the trial judge said in his decision that he could only decide the miscellaneous application and not the bail plea.
In the high court, Rashid’s lawyer said the MP was left without any redressal as the court hearing the bail plea “suddenly” took the view that it could not hear his case and the MP/MLA court did not have the jurisdiction to hear NIA cases.
He argued the pendency of the bail plea was resulting in Rashid’s constituency being left unrepresented during the parliamentary sessions owing to his continuing custody.
The NIA counsel said the probe agency in November wrote to the registrar general of the high court on the issue of designation of a trial court to hear the case but he was not aware of the status of the request.
Rashid was elected from the Baramulla constituency in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and has been lodged in Tihar Jail since 2019 after the NIA arrested him under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in the 2017 terror-funding case.
The ED filed a money laundering case against the accused persons on the basis of the NIA’s FIR, which accused them of “conspiring to wage war against the government” and fomenting trouble in the Kashmir valley.
Cases of the NIA and the ED also involve Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba chief and 26/11 Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed, Hizbul Mujahideen leader Syed Salahuddin and others. (Agencies)