The Delhi High Court has called for input from its Registrar General regarding the appropriate court to oversee the bail application of Jammu and Kashmir MP Rashid Engineer, who is embroiled in a terror funding case. The inquiry comes as a response to complications arising from the non-specialized nature of the court currently handling his case.
Justice Vikas Mahajan, presiding over the matter, highlighted the need for clarification after Rashid’s counsel reported that the National Investigation Agency (NIA) court was left in a state of uncertainty regarding its jurisdiction following Rashid’s election to the Lok Sabha. This issue stems from the fact that the NIA court is not designated as a special MP-MLA court, which is typically equipped to handle cases involving lawmakers.
During the session, the NIA’s counsel argued against Rashid’s request for interim bail, which would allow him to attend the ongoing Parliament session, stating that holding parliamentary status does not inherently grant him the right to bail. Additionally, it was revealed that the Registrar General had already sought guidance from the Supreme Court last November on whether NIA courts could be designated to hear MP/MLA cases.
This legal entanglement prompted Rashid to urge the high court to expedite the review of his bail plea, either through the NIA court or by direct intervention from the high court itself. The case had seen a previous setback on December 24 last year when additional sessions judge Chander Jit Singh, despite recognizing Rashid’s status as an MP, ruled that he could only address miscellaneous applications and not the substantive bail request.
