Terror funding: J&K MP Engineer Rashid seeks custody parole in Delhi HC

Engineer Rashid

Jammu and Kashmir MP Sheikh Abdul Rashid alias Engineer Rashid, facing charges under the anti-terror law UAPA, on Tuesday moved the Delhi High Court for custody parole to attend the ongoing Parliament session.

A bench of Justices Prathiba M Singh and Rajneesh Kumar Gupta would on March 12 hear Rashid's appeal against the trial court order, which refused him the relief on March 10.

Custody parole entails a prisoner being escorted by armed police personnel to the place of visit.

The Baramulla MP, who defeated Chief Minister Omar Abdullah in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, is facing trial in a terror funding case with the allegations that he funded separatists and terror groups in Jammu and Kashmir.

Before the trial court, he sought the custody parole on the grounds that being a parliamentarian, he needed to attend the session to fulfil his public duty.

As an interim relief, the high court on February 10 allowed him a two-day custody parole to attend the Parliament session on February 11 and 13.

Additional sessions judge Chander Jit Singh, however, dismissed his plea and posted the order on Rashid's regular bail plea on March 19.

Rahid 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.

His name cropped up during the investigation of Kashmiri businessman Zahoor Watali, who was arrested by the NIA for allegedly funding terrorist groups and separatists in the Kashmir Valley.

The NIA filed a chargesheet against several persons, including Kashmiri separatist leader Yasin Malik, Lashkar-e-Taiba founder Hafiz Saeed and Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin, in the case.

Malik was sentenced to life imprisonment by a trial court in 2022 after he pleaded guilty to the charges.