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Engineer Rashid’s custody parole costs: Delhi HC to decide if a single judge can decide on split verdict

Baramulla MP Abdul Rashid Sheikh alias Engineer Rashid has sought a waiver of travel and security costs for attending Parliament proceedings while on custody parole.

3 min readNew DelhiNov 14, 2025 03:12 PM IST

With both judges differing, the matter will now go before the Chief Justice for a final decision.

The Delhi High Court delivered a split verdict on MP Engineer Rashid’s plea seeking waiver of his security and travel costs to attend Parliament. (Express Archive)

Can a single judge hear a split verdict of a Division Bench, or is it to be referred to a larger three-judge Bench? The Delhi High Court is due to consider this aspect in January, while dealing with the petition of independent Baramulla MP Abdul Rashid Sheikh alias Engineer Rashid, who is seeking waiver of travel and security costs for attending Parliament proceedings while on custody parole.

A division bench of the Delhi HC on November 7 had delivered a split verdict on Rashid’s plea, following which the matter was placed before Justice Ravinder Dudeja on Friday.

Taken up briefly, the counsels referred to Section 433 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), a procedure where Judges of the Court of Appeal are equally divided, which is the CrPC Section 392 equivalent, and impressed that he will have to decide if he can hear it or whether it has to be decided by a larger bench.

Justice Dudeja has now kept the matter for consideration on January 14.

Rashid’s plea was heard by a bench of Justices Vivek Chaudhary and Anup Bhambhani. While Justice Chaudhary had held that Rashid has “no right, duty, entitlement or privilege, as it may be called, to attend the parliament proceedings while in lawful custody,” Justice Bhambhani took a divergent position.

Justice Bhambhani clearly held that the only costs payable by Rashid would be towards jail van expenses and escort vehicle expenses at Rs 1,036 and Rs 1,020 per day, respectively, and is not required to pay for the police escort.

The police had estimated a per-day cost of around Rs 1.45 lakh for Rashid to attend Parliament, to be paid by him. In March this year, the Delhi HC, while allowing the MP to attend Parliament during the Budget session, had imposed the condition that the expenses for Rashid’s travel and other arrangements shall be borne by him while he is in the state’s custody.

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Justice Bhambhani held that the “only legitimate expense that (Rashid) can be asked to bear is the cost of transportation for taking him from prison to Parliament and back; and the State’s demand that (Rashid) must foot the charges for all police officers, who are public servants, and who the state says are required to accompany (Rashid), is wholly unjustified and deserves to be quashed.”

Sohini Ghosh

Sohini Ghosh is a Senior Correspondent at The Indian Express. Previously based in Ahmedabad covering Gujarat, she recently moved to the New Delhi bureau, where she primarily covers legal developments at the Delhi High Court Professional Profile Background: An alumna of the Asian College of Journalism (ACJ), she previously worked with ET NOW before joining The Indian Express. Core Beats: Her reporting is currently centered on the Delhi High Court, with a focus on high-profile constitutional disputes, disputes over intellectual property, criminal and civil cases, issues of human rights and regulatory law (especially in the areas of technology and healthcare). Earlier Specialty: In Gujarat, she was known for her rigorous coverage in the beats of crime, law and policy, and social justice issues, including the 2002 riot cases, 2008 serial bomb blast case, 2016 flogging of Dalits in Una, among others. She has extensively covered health in the state, including being part of the team that revealed the segregation of wards at the state’s largest government hospital on lines of faith in April 2020. With Ahmedabad being a UNESCO heritage city, she has widely covered urban development and heritage issues, including the redevelopment of the Sabarmati Ashram Recent Notable Articles (Late 2025) Her recent reporting from the Delhi High Court covers major political, constitutional, corporate, and public-interest legal battles: High-Profile Case Coverage She has extensively covered the various legal battles - including for compensation under the aegis of North East Delhi Riots Claims Commission - pertaining to the 2020 northeast Delhi riots, as well as 1984 anti-Sikh riots. She has also led coverage at the intersection of technology and governance, and its impact on the citizenry, from, and beyond courtrooms — such as the government’s stakeholder consultations for framing AI-Deepfake policy. Signature Style Sohini is recognized for her sustained reporting from courtrooms and beyond. She specialises in breaking down dense legal arguments to make legalese accessible for readers. Her transition from Gujarat to Delhi has seen her expand her coverage on regulatory, corporate and intellectual property law, while maintaining a strong commitment to human rights and lacuna in the criminal justice system. X (Twitter): @thanda_ghosh ... Read More

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