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Delhi CM Announcement Live: The Delhi High Court granted Baramulla MP Rashid Engineer a two-day custody parole on Monday. He is accused in a terror funding case. He has been granted custody parole to attend parliament on February 11 and 13, when the tourist season under consideration is being held.

Engineer was lodged in Tihar Jail, Delhi, related to the terror funding case. He contested the Baramulla Lok Sabha constituency in 2024 from Tihar jail and defeated Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah in the J&K Assembly election.

The bench led by Justice Vikas Mahajan said Rashid Engineer would be taken under police escort to and fro via the parliament in tight security.

The high court imposed several conditions, including a ban on his using mobile phones, landlines or networking services. Meanwhile, Rashid is also barred from speaking to the media and anyone else during this time.

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The high court ruled that the custody parole was granted in view of the fact that at presently Rashid does not have any remedy that may enable him to have the adjudication of his bail application delayed on account of the difficulty that a competent court has been trying to notify for that purpose.

On Friday the high court had reserved the order on an application moved by Baramulla MP Engineer Rashid seeking custody parole to attend the ongoing parliament session amidst a jurisdictional row.

However, the National Investigation Agency (NIA), opposing Engineer custody parole, emphasised that his request was generic and stressed that he had no speech to deliver.

Senior Advocate Sidharth Luthra appeared for NIA. also adduced argument that taking an oath and campaigning are separate matters, and that their authority to grant parole is limited. He also highlighted the fact that the matter involves third party norms and that those are outside the NIA's jurisdiction.

Armed escort to be present for NIA Engineer: How would he be able to visit Parliament? Armed personnel have restrictions in Parliament because of security reasons, said NIA in the possible objection, irrelevant to the proceedings, being referred to another body, which has a view of different and own rules-security considerations.

Senior advocate N Hariharan appearing for the Rashid Engineer said the Centre has cut down the grant to Jammu & Kashmir by one thousand crores. He insisted that he had to present his points in Parliament. He said that only two days are left in the first half of the session and that urgent issues needed to be raised among the ministries regarding their states.

After taking note of the submissions, the bench of Justice Vikas Mahajan reserved orders on custody parole. The hearing on the main petition has been listed for February 11.

Engineer, under the purview of Tihar Jail Terror Charges under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, was primarily seeking regular bail.

The argument was heard today when the Delhi High Court recognised that the application for jurisdictional authority to hear Rashid's appeal for bail in an NIA case was submitted by the Registrar General with the Supreme Court of India.

This controversy arose when the Special NIA Court (Trial Court) recently refused to adjudicate the matter on the ground that it is clearly within the jurisdiction of the MP/MLA court because Rashid Engineer has become a member of the Parliament.

Counsel for the Registrar General of the Delhi High Court mentioned to the Court that the Registrar General has already approached the Supreme Court in the matter of clarification, and the matter is probably going to be taken up next week for a hearing.

NIA recently mustered up the courage to argue before a special tourist court seeking interim bail for engineer Rashid, quoted as pronouncing it "totally baseless" and throwing it on merit. In its reply, the NIA said, "The present case is a classic case of misuse of the interim bail provision, which has to be used sparingly when intolerable grief and suffering is displayed by the concerned accused."

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It further specified that applicant Rashid has failed to make any specification concerning the mean through which he will be able to serve his constituency and has, in fact, made an ambiguous averment that he intends to "serve the constituency". Therefore, the same does not constitute a valid ground for granting him any relief. "Moreover, the work done by the applicant/accused is put to strict proof to the work done by the applicant/accused in his constituency," it said.

Hariharan, the counsel for Engineer, argued that although his bail plea is still being heard since August last year, it is rendered infructuous as there is an issue of jurisdiction.

The counsel submitted that his entire constituency cannot go unrepresented for a long period, as he was not granted interim bail during the last session as well. He pointed out that his regular bail has been pending since September 2024.

The Engineer has approached the High Court following the action by Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) Chander Jit Singh, who declined to rule upon the bail plea on December 23. This judge stated that the scope of the court's power was restricted to the hearing of miscellaneous applications and that bail petitions fell outside that ambit.

Engineer was arrested in August 2019 under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA). During the period of incarceration, he filed his nomination from jail for the 2024 parliamentary elections, winning by a margin of 2,04,000 votes, defeating then former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah.

In the year 2022, that NIA Court of Patiala House has ordered to frame charges against Rashid Engineer and several other prime figures including Hafiz Saeed, Syed Salahuddin, Yasin Malik, Shabbir Shah, Masrat Alam, Zahoor Ahmed Watali, Bitta Karate, Aftab Ahmed Shah, Avtar Ahmad Shah, Naeem Khan, and Bashir Ahmed Butt (Peer Saifullah).

NIA investigation has revealed that the All Party Hurriyat Conference (APHC) was formed in 1993 to magnify separatist activities in the Indian state and money was allegedly routed through hawala and other covert channels. These illicit funds are accused of being used by Hafiz Saeed and Hurriyat leaders to create a wave of violence against security forces in Jammu and Kashmir, including triggering riots, plundering schools, and damaging public property.

According to the agency, the operations were intended to destabilize and propagate terrorism as a political resistance entity.

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