New Delhi [India], March 26 (ANI): The Delhi High Court has allowed Baramulla MP Abdul Rashid Sheikh to attend Parliament sessions in custody. He has been allowed to attend the session from March 26 to April 4, 2024.
He will be sent in custody from Tihar Jail to Parliament House on each of the dates on which the Lok Sabha is in session between March 26 and April 4, during the hours the Lok Sabha is in session on those days. Thereafter, he will be taken back to prison.
He is in judicial custody in a terror funding case lodged by the NIA. The Division bench of Justices Chandra Dhari Singh and Anup Jairam Bhambhani allowed the petition subject to certain conditions.
He sought permission to attend the Parliament Session in custody. He has been allowed subject to certain conditions. Senior advocate N Hariharan alongwith advocate Vikhyat Oberoi appeared for Engineer Rashid.
” As a sequitur to the foregoing and in light of the undertaking given by the learned senior counsel for the appellant, on instructions, this court is persuaded to accept the limited prayer pressed in the present matter, by directing that the appellant – Abdul Rashid Sheikh alias Rashid Engineer – is permitted to attend the Second Part of the 4th Session of the 18th Lok Sabha Parliament, scheduled between 26.03.2025 and 04.04.2025, ‘in-custody’, the bench ordered.
The High court has directed the Director General (Prisons) to send him “in-custody” under police escort from prison to the Parliament House on each of the dates on which the Lok Sabha is in session between 26.03.2025 and 04.04.2025, during the hours that the Lok Sabha is in session on those days.
The High Court has further directed that at the Parliament House, the appellant shall be handed over to the custody of Parliament security/marshals, who shall allow the appellant to attend the proceedings of the Lok Sabha and to avail of other facilities and amenities within the Parliament House during the hours that the Lok Sabha is in session. Thereafter, the appellant shall hand back custody to the prison escort, who will bring him back to prison straight from the Parliament House on the same day without any delay.
The High court has restrained him to use mobile phone. The high court said, ” While out to attend the Parliament Session, the appellant shall not be entitled to use any cellular or landline phone or other communication device; nor shall he be entitled to have access to the internet by any mode.”
The appellant shall not interact with any other person, at any time while he is outside the premises of the jail, except within the premises of the Lok Sabha House and concerning the performance of his role as a Member of Parliament as per the requisite discipline permitted by the Lok Sabha Rules, the bench has directed. It is also directed that he will not interact with the media.
The appellant shall not engage with or address the Media (electronic/print), neither within the premises of the Parliament nor outside, in any manner whatsoever, including about the pendency of the criminal proceedings against him, the High Court.
The High Court said that the expense for the aforesaid travel and other arrangements shall be borne by the appellant.
The High court has requested the Secretary General of the Lok Sabha to ensure compliance of the foregoing conditions by taking requisite steps as may be required, as per Parliament rules, to ensure that his judicial custody is not compromised.
The High Court made it clear that in the event of a violation of any of the terms and conditions as well as the undertaking noted hereinabove by the appellant, the NIA shall be at liberty to apply for cancellation/withdrawal of the permission granted.
Engineer Rashid had moved a petition seeking permission to attend the Parliament Session. His earlier plea was dismissed by the trial court on March 10. However, he was earlier allowed to attend the Parliament Session in the first session for two days in February. (ANI)
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