New Delhi: The Patiala House Court of Delhi has fixed June 18, 2024, for hearing on a plea moved by a newly elected MP from Baramulla, Jammu and Kashmir, seeking interim bail for taking an oath.
He has been in custody for the last five years in a terror funding case lodged by the National Investigation Agency (NIA). He has defeated Omar Abdullah from the Baramulla Lok Sabha seat.
Additional Sessions Judge Chander Jit Singh deferred the matter for June 18 after the NIA sought time to reply to Rashid's application. The NIA also apprised the court that the notification for the oath of newly elected Members of Parliament (Lak Sabha) was not published yet.
Earlier, the Court had sought a response from the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in the case.
Rashid's counsel, Advocate Vikhyat Oberoi, earlier told ANI that an application seeking interim bail and alternative custody parole, to take an oath and perform other parliamentary functions had been filed.
"We filed it on June 5. The matter was taken up by the Court and it was listed for 6th for reply by the NIA," Oberoi said. On Thursday NIA did not file any reply. So, the court has listed the matter for June 7 for the NIA to file a reply.
Oberoi has also said that the engineer is a two-time MLA. Now he has to take oath as an MP after winning the election. The date for the oath ceremony has not yet declared.
In 2005, Rashid was arrested by SOG in Srinagar for supporting militants and subsequently jailed for three months and 17 days. A charge of anti-national activities was slapped on him. He was kept in Cargo, Humhama and Raj Bagh prisons.
Later, Chief Judaical Magistrate Srinagar dropped all charges against him on humanitarian grounds. In August 2019, he was arrested under the UAPA case. He filed his nomination form for contesting the 2024 parliamentary election from jail and won by a margin of two lakh four thousand by defeating the former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, Omar Abdullah.
—ANI