MP Engineer Rashid moves Delhi HC over pending bail plea, cites upcoming Budget session
Jammu and Kashmir MP Engineer Rashid’s bail plea has been pending as the trial court is awaiting instructions on whether an NIA court or a designated MP/MLA court has jurisdiction to decide his plea.
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MP Engineer Rashid. (File photo)The Delhi High Court on Thursday sought a response from the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in a plea by Jammu and Kashmir MP Abdul Rashid Sheikh alias Engineer Rashid where he sought directions to a trial court to expeditiously pronounce its verdict in his second bail plea.
Rashid, an Independent Lok Sabha MP from Baramulla, sought urgent relief in light of the Budget session in Parliament set to begin on January 31.
Rashid’s bail plea has been pending as the trial court is awaiting instructions on whether an NIA court has jurisdiction to decide his plea or a designated MP/MLA court. Additional Sessions Judge Chander Jit Singh had reserved the order on his bail plea in August 2024 and the court had requested the district judge to transfer the case to a court designated to try lawmakers, observing Rashid was now an MP.
Rashid, represented by senior advocate N Hariharan, submitted before Justice Vikas Mahajan on Thursday, “It seems there is no court that will hear my bail application…it was reserved by the trial court in August 2024…there are no designated MP/MLA court for NIA cases…(it) seems there is no redress for me…Three months have gone by and bail application is also pending (before the trial court…The 3rd parliament session he couldn’t attend…the 4th session is coming in 7 days… my constituency is suffering.”
The NIA’s counsel Akshai Malik informed the court that it had made a request through a communication to the registrar general of the Delhi High Court for appropriate designation of a court which could hear Rashid’s bail plea and that as per his information, a decision is still pending on the same.
Malik urged that the court may call for information in this regard from the registrar general, and may seek a reply on the administrative side.
Justice Mahajan, while issuing notice to NIA, seeking a status report from the probe agency before the next date of hearing on January 30, orally added that he shall “see what can be done.”
Rashid has also sought that the Delhi High Court, alternatively, treat his petition as a bail application and adjudicate on the grant of bail in the NIA case against him.
Rashid was arrested in 2019 in a terror funding case under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. According to the NIA, he used various public platforms to “propagate the ideology of separatism and secessionism”, was closely associated with various terrorist organisations, and wanted to “legitimise” the United Jihad Council, a platform of anti-India militant groups in Jammu and Kashmir.
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