Can MP Rashid Engineer Be Granted Custody Parole To Attend Parliament? Delhi High Court Asks NIA

The Delhi High Court on Thursday sought stand of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on whether Jammu and Kashmir MP Rashid Engineer can be granted custody parole to attend the Parliamentary budget session.

Justice Vikas Mahajan asked the NIA counsel to obtain instructions and listed the matter for hearing tomorrow.

“He is an elected MP. What is the difficulty of sending him in custody?” Court asked NIA's counsel.

The Court was dealing with Rashid's plea seeking expeditious ruling by the trial court on his second regular bail plea. He has also sought interim bail in order to attend the Parliamentary budget session which commenced on January 31. In the alternative, he has sought custody parole during the budget session.

Earlier this week, the Court had issued notice on Delhi High Court's Registrar General after it was informed that an application has been moved before the Supreme Court seeking clarification on the issue.

The Delhi High Court through its Registrar General filed the application before the Apex Court seeking clarification in the 2017 directions of the Supreme Court for setting up Special Courts for the trials of Members of Parliament/Members of the Legislative Assembly (MPs/MLAs).

The application seeks clarification on "Whether the Special Court constituted under the National Investigation Agency Act, 2008 , if designated as a Special MP/MLA Court, would be restricted to adjudicate only those cases involving MPs/MLAs under the said Statute or whether it can concurrently exercise its jurisdiction over other offenders as per its existing statutory mandate and can decide those cases parallelly with the cases having MP/MLA as an accused." 

During the hearing today, Advocate Kanhaiya Singhal appeared for the Delhi High Court's Registrar General and submitted that the application has been filed and the matter is likely to be listed on 10th or 11th February, as indicated on the official website.

He also said that the matter will be mentioned tomorrow before the Supreme Court.

Senior Advocate N Hariharan appearing for Rashid submitted that the situation does not get addressed for the MP by urgent mentioning before the Apex Court as he is remediless. When I am remediless, petition under Article 226 will lie, he said.

Hariharan then urged the Court that Rashid be granted custody parole to attend the budget session and that the constituency of the lawmaker is unrepresented.

In his petition, Rashid has sought directions to the trial court judge to expedite a decision on his pending regular bail application.

In the alternative, he has prayed that the writ petition be treated as his second regular bail application and be decided by the High Court.

The development ensued after the ASJ, which was adjudicating the UAPA case, in December last year said that it could only decide Rashid's miscellaneous application but not his regular bail application.

The Additional Sessions Judge Court had then requested the District Judge to transfer the UAPA case to a MP/MLA designated court designated after Rashid became an MP.

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.

Rashid has been in jail since 2019 after he was charged by NIA under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in alleged terror funding case.

Title: Abdul Rashid Sheikh v. NIA