The Delhi High Court granted interim bail to Baramulla MP Sheikh Abdul Rashid, known as Engineer Rashid, from June 25 to June 30 for participating in his father’s post-death rituals, while directing him to surrender after expiry of previously granted interim bail linked to last rites.
The Delhi High Court granted interim bail to jailed Baramulla MP Sheikh Abdul Rashid, also known as Engineer Rashid, for the period from June 25 to June 30.
The relief was granted so that he could take part in his father’s post-death rituals.
A bench of Justices Prathiba M. Singh and Madhu Jain directed, however, that Rashid should surrender on June 2, upon the expiry of the interim bail that had been granted to him on May 18 for his father’s last rites.
Division Bench permitted his temporary release from June 25 to June 30 so he could attend the 40th-day post-death rites for his late father.
However, the Court directed that Rashid must surrender on June 2, after his present interim bail period expires, before seeking release again later in June.
Rashid’s senior counsel sought an extension of interim bail so that the parliamentarian who is facing terror-funding allegations could attend certain ceremonies to be held in Srinagar on the 40th day after his father’s burial.
The court ordered,
“After the interim bail (granted on May 18) expires on June 2, the appellant shall surrender. However, for the period from June 25 to June 30, interim bail is again granted in order to enable the appellant to participate in the rites and ceremonies on the 40th day,”
The court said the interim bail granted for June 25–30 would be subject to the same conditions as those applicable during Rashid’s current release.
When interim bail was granted on May 18, the bench had imposed several conditions, including that Rashid must always be accompanied by at least two police officials in plain clothes.
These officials were required to stay with him from the start of his journey from Tihar Jail until his return from Srinagar. He was also allowed to visit the burial ground or any other place of worship, but was not permitted to go elsewhere outside his residence, the court had said.
Earlier, on April 28, the court had granted Rashid one week’s interim bail to enable him to meet his ailing father in Srinagar. The period was later extended until May 10 after Rashid’s father was shifted to AIIMS in Delhi for treatment.
Rashid is currently undergoing trial in the terror-funding case. The prosecution alleges that he funded separatist and terror groups in Jammu and Kashmir. Rashid has been in Delhi’s Tihar Jail since 2019, after the National Investigation Agency (NIA) arrested him in connection with a 2017 case.
After he was named in a chargesheet in October 2019, a special NIA court framed charges against Rashid and others in March 2022 under Sections 120B (criminal conspiracy), 121 (waging war against the government), and 124A (sedition) of the Indian Penal Code, along with provisions of the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
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