Court permits jailed MP Engineer Rashid to cast vote in VP election on Sep 9

Rashid, lodged in Tihar since 2019 in a terror funding case, had earlier defeated Omar Abdullah in the Lok Sabha polls and was previously granted custody parole to attend Parliament.

New Delhi: A court here on Saturday allowed Lok Sabha MP from Jammu and Kashmir's Baramulla, Engineer Rashid, to vote in the September 9 election for the Vice President.

Additional Sessions Judge Chander Jit allowed Rashid's plea seeking permission to vote.

Rashid was earlier granted custody parole by the court between July 24 and August 4 to attend the monsoon session of Parliament.

The jailed MP's counsel, Vikhyat Oberoi, said that Rashid has to furnish an undertaking that he will make payment of the travel costs, subject to the outcome of his appeal which is reserved for orders by the Delhi High Court.

The appeal is against an order by authorities asking him to pay several lakhs of rupees as travel expenses for attending Parliament on a custody parole.

Rashid has been lodged in Tihar jail since 2019 after he was arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in the 2017 terror funding case.

The Baramulla MP, who defeated Omar Abdullah in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, is facing allegations that he funded separatists and terror groups in Jammu and Kashmir.

According to the NIA's FIR, Rashid's name cropped up during the interrogation of businessman and co-accused Zahoor Watali.

After being chargesheeted 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 Indian Penal Code and for offences relating to terrorist acts and terror funding under UAPA.