Delhi High Court seeks NIA reply to Engineer Rashid plea for quick decision on bail

The Delhi High Court on Thursday sought the response of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to a plea moved by Baramulla Member of Parliament (MP) Engineer Rashid for quick resolution of his pending bail plea in a terror funding case under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA). .Justice Vikas Mahajan issued notice on Rashid's petition and ordered the NIA to file a reply/status report before January 30, the next date of hearing..Senior Advocate N Hariharan, who represented Rashid, submitted that no court appears to be there to hear his bail plea. One trial court reserved his bail plea and then released it saying that it has no jurisdiction to hear MP/MLA cases, the Court was told."I cannot be without redress. Either your lordship hears me or tells the concerned court to dispose of the application...he has heard me in detail and reserved it for orders and then come to this conclusion," the senior lawyer submitted.Special Public Prosecutor Akshai Malik with Advocate Khawar Saleem representing the NIA, submitted that the agency in November 2024 had requested the Registrar General of the High Court for designation of a court which can hear the bail plea. The Court was told that this request was still pending.Hariharan said three months have passed since then, and the bail application continues to remain pending. "My constituency needs to be represented (in Parliament)," he said..Rashid is currently in Delhi’s Tihar jail facing charges under the UAPA in an alleged terror-funding case. He was arrested in 2019.Rashid won the Baramulla Lok Sabha seat by defeating Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah by over two lakh votes. Last year, Rashid was granted bail by the trial court to campaign for the assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir..Rashid was represented by Senior Advocate N Hariharan with Advocates Aditya Wadhwa, Vikhyat Oberoi, Nishita Gupta, Shivam Prakash, Ravi Sharma, Jagriti Pandey, Punya Rekha Angara, Vasundhara N., Sana Singh, Aman Akhtar, Vinayak Gautam and Hasnain Khawaja.NIA was represented by Special Public Prosecutor Akshai Malik with Advocates Khawar Saleem and Yatharth Sharma.