The Delhi High Court on Friday ruled that it would hold a preliminary hearing in January on a plea filed by jailed MP Engineer Rashid against the travel costs he has been asked to pay for attending Parliament while in custody.
The matter was placed before Justice Ravinder Dudeja by the Chief Justice after a split verdict by a division bench of Justices Vivek Chaudhary and Anup Jairam Bhambhani on Rashid’s plea seeking modification of an order that asked him to deposit approximately Rs 4 lakh with jail authorities to attend Parliament in custody.
Justice Dudeja listed the matter for January 14 for a preliminary hearing after counsel for Rashid and the National Investigation Agency (NIA) presented their arguments for and against the plea.
“This bench needs to conduct a preliminary hearing on this aspect. List for consideration on January 14,” the judge said.
Under Section 433 of the BNSS, if two or more judges are equally divided on an appeal, the matter must be referred to another judge of the same court.
On November 7, the bench of Justices Chaudhary and Bhambhani delivered a split ruling. One judge held that Rashid does not retain any right, entitlement, or privilege to attend Parliament proceedings while in custody.
The other judge, however, ruled in Rashid’s favour, noting that the incarcerated MP should only pay nominal charges, including transport costs for the police officers accompanying him.
Rashid has been lodged in Delhi’s Tihar Jail since 2019 after the NIA arrested him in the 2017 terror-funding case.
After naming him in a charge sheet in October 2019, a special NIA court framed charges against Rashid and others in March 2022 under Sections 120B (criminal conspiracy), 121 (waging war against the government), and 124A (sedition) of the IPC and for offences relating to terrorist acts and terror funding under the UAPA.
Rashid has denied all charges and has called the case a politically motivated conspiracy against him.
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