Delhi High Court seeks NIA's response to Engineer Rashid plea to attend Parliament

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday sought the response of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to a plea by Baramulla Member of Parliament (MP) and terror-funding accused Abdul Rashid Sheikh alias Engineer Rashid, seeking permission to attend the ongoing parliament session. .The Bench of Justice Prathiba M Singh and Justice Rajneesh Kumar Gupta heard the arguments in this matter and issued notice to NIA..Rashid is currently in Tihar Jail as an accused in a terror funding case under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA). He was arrested in 2019.He had won the Baramulla Lok Sabha seat in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls by defeating current Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah by over two lakh votes. He had earlier moved a special NIA court for bail. The special court heard the plea and reserved orders but released the matter after stating that only a designated MP/MLA Court can hear the MP's case.This led to confusion as to which court would be entitled to hear his bail plea - the special NIA court or the MP/MLA court.Eventually, the Supreme Court on February 10 clarified that the special NIA Court can continue dealing with Rashid's plea.The special court then heard the bail plea and reserved it for order. The same is slated to be pronounced on March 19. .Rashid meanwhile approached the High Court seeking permission to attend the parliament session which commenced on March 10..Senior Advocate N Hariharan, appearing for Rashid, told the High Court today that the constituency Baramulla represents 45 percent of the population of Jammu & Kashmir. For representing his constituency, Rashid is seeking Court's permission to attend the Parliament session which ends on April 4, he stated."He is presently in judicial custody in Tihar Jail. The parliamentary session is from March 10 to April 4. They want to defeat the entire purpose (of the petition)," he said..The NIA Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) Akshai Malik (who appeared via video conference) submitted that custody parole was previously granted by the High Court as there was no designated trial court. The SPP further highlighted that the special court has reserved its order in the bail plea filed by Rashid and it will be pronounced on March 19.The Court observed that the special NIA court had on March 10 rejected Rashid's petition seeking permission to attend the second part of the Lok Sabha Session.It also remarked that the plea will be infructuous once the parliament session is over.Hence while issuing notice, the Court directed NIA to file its response by March 17 and rejected the agency's request for more time. "If (parliament) session gets over, there is no point," the Bench remarked.It also asked the SPP to physically appear before Court to argue the case on the next date.The matter will be heard next on March 18..[Live coverage]