NEW DELHI, Mar 12:
The Delhi High Court on Wednesday asked the NIA to respond to the plea of jailed Jammu and Kashmir MP Sheikh Abdul Rashid alias Engineer Rashid seeking to attend Parliament.
A bench of Justices Prathiba M Singh and Rajneesh Kumar Gupta issued notice to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Rashid’s appeal against a trial court order refusing him custody parole or interim bail.
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Rashid is facing charges under the anti-terror law Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).
“Issue notice. Let objections, if any, be placed before this court on Monday,” the bench said while posting the hearing on March 18.
When the NIA counsel sought a couple of days to place the agency’s response, the court turned down the request.
“If the session gets over, there is no point,” the court said.
Senior advocate N Hariharan, appearing for Rashid, said the Parliament session was till April 4 and his constituency was going unrepresented.
“All we are asking is the permission to attend Parliament. I represent the Parliamentary constituency which has 45 per cent of the entire population of J&K. Send me in custody (parole),” he said.
Hariharan referred to Rashid’s two-day custody parole granted by the Gigh Court previously.
Custody parole entails a prisoner being escorted by armed police personnel to the place of visit.
The NIA counsel said Rashid was permitted to attend the Parliament session for two days under “different circumstances” in the absence of a designated court to decide his plea.
He said a court had been designated now and his bail plea was likely to be decided by the trial court on March 19.
The court then asked the counsel to make the submission in the appeal on the next date of hearing. (PTI)
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