NIA allows Engineer Rashid take oath as MP, Delhi court to give order tomorrow
MP-elect from Kashmir’s Baramulla seat Engineer Rashid
The National Investigation Agency or NIA gave consent for jailed Kashmiri leader Sheikh Abdul Rashid, known as Engineer Rashid, to take oath as a Lok Sabha member on July 25, ahead of the Delhi court's order on Tuesday. Additional sessions judge Chander Jit Singh will pass an order on the plea on Tuesday.
Engineer Rashid could not take oath as a member of the 18th Lok Sabha on June 24 despite his name being called as he has been lodged in jail since 2019 after being charged by the NIA in a terror-funding case.
Engineer Rashid defeated former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah to win the Lok Sabha elections from the Baramulla seat as an Independent candidate.
A Delhi court on Saturday asked the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to respond by July 1 to an application filed by Engineer Rashid, seeking interim bail to take oath as an MP.
Additional sessions judge Kiran Gupta fixed the matter for hearing on July 1 and directed the NIA to file its reply by then.
Rashid, the MP from Baramulla who has been arrested in a 2017 Jammu and Kashmir terror funding case, had moved the court seeking interim bail, or custody parole in the alternative, to take oath and perform his parliamentary functions.
On Monday, the NIA's counsel said Rashid's oath-taking be subject to some conditions like not speaking to the media. He also said Rashid must complete everything within a day.
In the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, Engineer Rashid ran as an independent candidate for the Baramulla seat and defeated Omar Abdullah. He secured victory with a margin of 2,04,142 votes and received 47,2481 votes.
Radical preacher Amritpal Singh fails to take oath as MP
Another jailed MP-elect Amritpal Singh, a radical preacher, could not take oath as a member of Parliament as he is in jail in Assam, detained under the National Security Act.
Twelve other MP-elects from Punjab were administered oath in Parliament on Tuesday. Punjab has 13 Lok Sabha constituencies.
After the Congress' Gurjeet Singh Aujla took oath in Parliament, Singh's name was called out but he was not present.
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