The Delhi High Court on Thursday issued a notice to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on a petition filed by Baramulla MP Engineer Rashid, challenging the trial court’s decision to frame charges against him in a terror funding case. The matter is now listed for hearing on October 6.
Meanwhile, a separate plea seeking modification of a custody parole order has been transferred to the roster bench. It will be heard on August 6 before a bench comprising Justice Anup Jairam Bhambhani, subject to the Chief Justice’s orders.
A division bench of Justices Vivek Chaudhary and Shalinder Kaur issued the notice to the NIA on Rashid’s petition. Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) Akshai Malik accepted the notice on behalf of the NIA. The High Court has also sought the agency’s formal response.
Rashid’s regular bail plea is pending and will be heard along with the current petitions on the next date.
During the hearing of the plea seeking interim bail or extended custody parole to attend the ongoing Parliament session, the court noted that the arguments were similar to those made earlier. The bench advised the petitioner’s counsel to press for a modification of the existing order instead of filing a fresh application.
Senior Advocate N Hariharan, appearing for Rashid, agreed with the suggestion and requested that the modification plea be listed before the same roster bench that had passed the original order.
Earlier, on July 29, the court had informed Rashid’s counsel that the application for modification of the custody parole order was still pending, and it could not entertain a fresh petition on the same grounds. As an alternative, interim bail was also sought.
On July 22, the Special NIA Court at Patiala House had rejected Rashid’s interim bail plea but granted him custody parole from July 24 to August 4 to attend Parliament’s monsoon session, with conditions including bearing his own travel and security costs.
Now, Rashid is seeking either interim bail or an extension of custody parole from July 23 to August 21 to cover the full duration of the monsoon session. He has also requested that the order requiring him to bear the travel and related expenses be set aside.
Engineer Rashid is currently in judicial custody in a 2017 terror funding case linked to Lashkar-e-Taiba founder Hafiz Saeed. He was represented by Senior Advocate N Hariharan, along with Advocates Aditya Wadhwa, Vikhyat Oberoi, and Nishita Gupta.
During arguments before the special court, it was submitted that Rashid had earlier been granted interim bail in September 2024 to campaign during the state elections—bail which was extended three times. His counsel argued that, in light of this, he should not be considered a security threat.
It was also highlighted that the Delhi High Court had previously allowed Rashid to attend Parliament in custody on February 10 and March 25, where he participated in proceedings without incident.
The NIA opposed the fresh bail request, maintaining that Rashid should not be granted interim relief. However, it stated that if allowed to attend Parliament in custody, he should bear all related expenses. Rashid’s counsels contested this, arguing that attending Parliament is a public duty, not a personal activity, and should not come at his expense.
