New Delhi- Member of Parliament from Baramulla, Engineer Rashid on Tuesday attended the Lok Sabha proceedings for the first time after his election last year.
He was brought from Tihar Jail under custody parole granted by the Delhi High Court to participate in the ongoing Budget session.
Er Rashid, who has been in custody since 2019 in connection with a case under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, was granted a two-day custody parole.
In his maiden speech in the Lok Sabha, Er Rashid raised concerns over recent civilian deaths in J&K, asserting that the “blood of Kashmiris is not cheap.”
He demanded an impartial probe into the deaths of Waseem Ahmed Mir, who was killed in alleged Army firing during a naka checking in Baramulla and Makhan Din, who died by suicide after he was questioned by Police in Kathua.
“Do our forces need Waseem Mir’s blood every day?” Rashid asked, calling for accountability and a fair investigation into both incidents. “Kashmiris have the right to live with dignity and the government should do justice with them,” he added.
“Hamara khoon sasta nahin hain (our blood is not cheap),” he said.
Additionally, Baramulla MP highlighted the hardships faced by residents of remote areas like Karnah, Keran, and Machil in North Kashmir, which become inaccessible in winter months.
He appealed for the construction of a tunnel to improve connectivity and ease their struggles.
Pertinently, the Delhi High Court had imposed restrictions on Rashid’s parole, barring him from using the internet or speaking to the media during his time in the Parliament.
The Baramulla lawmaker was taken to the RML Hospital under police security on Tuesday morning for a routine health check-up, Tihar jail sources said.
Rashid’s parole is saddled with certain riders, including not using a cellphone or internet, or addressing the media or any person except to his limited responsibility as an MP.
The Baramulla MP is facing allegations that he funded separatists and terror groups in Jammu and Kashmir.
Delhi HC To Hear Bail Plea On Feb 24
The Delhi High Court on Tuesday listed for hearing on February 24 a plea by jailed MP Abdul Rashid Sheikh alias Engineer Rashid on the issue of lack of a forum to decide his bail plea in a terror funding case.
Justice Vikas Mahajan deferred the hearing after he was informed by the counsel for the high court administration that the Supreme Court on Monday clarified that the NIA court dealing with the case could hear the bail plea.
Rashid had moved the high court earlier, alleging he did not have a remedy after the NIA court dealing with his bail application left him in a limbo after his election to the Lok Sabha last year on account of it not being a special MP/MLA court.
As an interim relief, Rashid was on Monday allowed a two-day custody parole to attend the ongoing Parliament session on February 11 and 13.
In view of the development in the top court, Justice Mahajan on Tuesday orally asked Rashid’s lawyer to approach the NIA court for bail.
The MP’s counsel, however, urged the court to adjourn the matter for a week.
Adjourning the matter, it asked the high court administration’s lawyer to place on record the office order which would be passed by the authorities on the issue of designation of the court to hear Rashid’s case in view of the Supreme Court’s clarification.
The Baramulla MP is facing trial in a terror funding case with the allegations that he funded separatists and terror groups in Jammu and Kashmir.
Rashid, who was elected from the Baramulla constituency in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, 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.
The Delhi High Court registrar general had moved the top court earlier over the issue of jurisdiction of the court which should ideally hear Rashid’s bail plea.
The clarification from the Supreme Court was required as a 2016 judgment of the apex court designated a special MP/MLA court to solely try cases involving MP/MLAs.
In his petition, Rashid urged the high court to either direct the expeditious disposal of his pending bail plea by the NIA court or decide the matter itself.
On December 24 last year, Additional Sessions Judge Chander Jit Singh, who requested the district judge to transfer the case to a court designated to try lawmakers, dismissed his plea asking for an order on the pending bail application in the NIA case.
With the matter sent back to him by the district judge, the trial judge said in his decision that he could only decide the miscellaneous application and not the bail plea.
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