NEW DELHI: The Patiala House Court in Delhi on Tuesday extended the interim bail of Engineer Rashid, an independent Lok Sabha MP from Baramulla, Jammu and Kashmir, till October 28 in connection with a terror funding case. The court granted the extension on medical grounds, relating to Rashid’s father.
Additional Sessions Judge Chander Jit Singh, while extending the interim bail, directed Rashid to surrender before the jail authorities by 12 noon on October 28, 2024. The court also deferred the pronouncement of its order on his regular bail plea until the same date.
The same judge had previously granted Rashid interim bail on September 10 to allow him to campaign for the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections, and has now postponed the decision on his regular bail plea. The court noted that the National Investigation Agency (NIA) had verified the medical documents and did not oppose the extension of interim bail sought by the applicant.
The elections for the 90-member Jammu and Kashmir Assembly were conducted in three phases from September 18 to October 1, with the results announced on October 8. The National Conference-Congress alliance secured 48 seats, followed by the BJP with 29 seats. In 2005, Engineer Rashid was arrested by the Special Operations Group (SOG) in Srinagar for allegedly supporting militants and was held for three months and 17 days. He faced charges of anti-national activities and was incarcerated in Cargo, Humhama, and Raj Bagh prisons. However, the Chief Judicial Magistrate of Srinagar later dropped all charges against him on humanitarian grounds.
In August 2019, Rashid was again arrested under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA). During his incarceration, he filed his nomination for the 2024 parliamentary elections from jail and won by a margin of 204,000 votes, defeating former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah.