Delhi court dismisses Baramulla MP Engineer Rashid's bail plea in terror funding case

A Delhi Court on Friday dismissed the bail application of Lok Sabha MP from Jammu and Kashmir's Baramulla, Engineer Rashid, in a terror funding case. "The bail plea dismissed," Additional Sessions Judge Chander Jit Singh said.

Rashid has been lodged in Tihar jail since 2019 after he was arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in the 2017 terror funding case.

During a hearing this week, Rashid had challenged a March 10 order of the trial court, refusing him custody parole or interim bail to attend Lok Sabha proceedings till April 4.

The NIA had argued that Rashid could neither be granted interim bail nor allowed custody parole as he had no enforceable right to attend the Parliament session while in lawful custody.

His bail plea has been pending since September last year. The Delhi High Court had directed the special NIA court to expedite the matter.

Rashid had approached the high court earlier, claiming he had no option for relief after the NIA court left his bail application unresolved due to its inability to handle cases involving MPs and MLAs, following his election to the Lok Sabha last year. The same bench had allowed custody parole to Engineer Rashid to attend the ongoing Parliament session for two days. (Feb 11 and Feb 13).

Rashid was arrested in August 2019 under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA). During his incarceration, he filed his nomination for the 2024 parliamentary elections from jail and won by a margin of 2,04,000 votes, defeating former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah.