NEW DELHI: A Delhi court on Friday dismissed the bail application of Lok Sabha MP from J&K’s Baramulla, Engineer Rashid, in a terror funding case.
Rashid is lodged in Tihar jail since 2019 after he was arrested by the NIA under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in the 2017 terror funding case.
The trial court had on September 10 granted interim bail to Rashid to enable him to campaign for the assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir.
The Delhi High Court is also likely to consider on March 25 Rashid’s plea to attend the ongoing Parliament session.
Rashid has challenged a March 10 order of the trial court, refusing him custody parole or interim bail to attend Lok Sabha proceedings till April 4.
In the reply filed to the appeal on March 17, the NIA said Rashid couldn’t be allowed to use his status as an MP to “get away from rigours of imprisonment”.
Calling Rashid a “highly influential” person who might sway witnesses, the NIA said the accused cannot be granted bail if there are reasonable grounds for believing that the accusations against him are prima facie true.”
‘No right to attend Parliament’
In a reply to Rashid’s appeal, the NIA said the MP couldn’t be allowed to use his status to get away from imprisonment.NIA argued that Rashid could neither be granted interim bail nor allowed custody parole as he had no right to attend Parliament.