J&K MP Abdul Rashid Sheikh alias Engineer Rashid.
| Photo Credit: PTI
The Delhi High Court on Monday (February 10, 2025) allowed two-day custody parole to jailed Jammu and Kashmir MP Abdul Rashid Sheikh alias Rashid Engineer to attend the ongoing Parliament session on February 11 and 13.
Custody parole entails a prisoner being escorted by armed police personnel to the place of his visit.
The Baramulla MP is facing trial in a terror funding case in which he is charged with funding separatists and terror groups in Jammu and Kashmir.
Mr. Rashid moved the High Court saying that he was left without a remedy after the NIA court dealing with his bail application left him in a limbo following his election to the Lok Sabha last year on account of it not being a special MP/MLA court.
As an interim relief, he sought custody parole.
The NIA argued against granting custody parole and said Mr. Rashid did not have a vested right to attend Parliament and hadn’t demonstrated a specific purpose for his request.
Mr. Rashid’s counsel argued that the MP should be allowed to attend the session as his constituency was not represented during the Budget session when the funds allocated to his State had gone down by ₹1,000 crore.
The counsel referred to a case in which lawmaker Pappu Yadav was allowed to participate in a Parliament session in 2009.
Published – February 10, 2025 03:27 pm IST