New Delhi: A city court on Tuesday (September 10) granted interim bail till October 2 to Baramulla Member of Parliament (MP) Sheikh Abdul Rashid, popularly known as Engineer Rashid.
Additional Sessions Judge Chander Jit Singh granted the interim bail to Rashid, who had sought the relief to campaign in the upcoming Jammu and Kashmir assembly elections.
Rashid has also sought his release from the jail in the terror funding case and the court has reserved its order for tomorrow on his regular bail application.
Rashid won from Baramulla Lok Sabha seat in the 2024 general elections
Rashid fought the general elections from the Baramulla Lok Sabha constituency in the 2024 parliamentary elections while being in judicial custody in Delhi’s Tihar Jail and he defeated his nearest rival Omar Abdullah, the former chief minister of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir.
Court earlier allowed custody parole to Rashid for two hours to enable him to take oath as an MP
Rashid earlier had also moved the court in the national capital after winning the Lok Sabha seat from the Baramulla parliamentary constituency seeking interim bail, or custody parole in the alternative, to take oath as an MP and perform his parliamentary functions. The court, hearing his plea, had allowed custody parole to him for two hours on July 5 to enable him to take oath as an MP on his plea.
Rashid is currently lodged in Tihar Jail
Rashid is currently lodged in Delhi’s Tihar Jail in judicial custody in an alleged 2017 Jammu and Kashmir terror funding case under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA). He has been lodged in the Tihar jail since 2019 after he was charged by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) under the provisions of UAPA in the alleged terror funding case.
The NIA had filed a charge sheet in the 2017 terror funding case case before a court in Delhi against several persons, including Lashkar-e-Taiba founder Hafiz Saeed, Kashmiri separatist leader Yasin Malik, and Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin. The trial court awarded Malik life imprisonment in 2022 after he pleaded guilty to the charges.
