NEW DELHI: The Patiala House Courts on Tuesday granted Sheikh Abdul Rashid a.k.a Engineer Rashid to take oath as an MP under custody parole. Rashid was elected to Parliament by defeating NC’s Omar Abdullah from Baramullah in the recently-held Lok Sabha elections. The order was passed by Additional Sessions Judge Chander Jit Singh following consent by the NIA to the arrangement.
Rashid, an undertrial in a terror funding case being probed by NIA and currently lodged in Tihar Jail, will be escorted to Parliament on July 5 for a two-hour window to fulfil his constitutional duty of taking oath. The NIA said that it has been consulting with Parliament and jail authorities on the matter.
Law does not explicitly prohibit undertrials from contesting elections. Section 62(5) of the Representation of People Act (RPA) disallows lawfully imprisoned persons from voting if they are confined in a jail or in police custody. However, a 2013 amendment to the Act ensures that individuals remain eligible to contest polls as long as their names are on electoral rolls, regardless of their incarceration status.