New Delhi: A Delhi sessions court allowed jailed Kashmiri leader Sheikh Abdul Rashid, also known as Engineer Rashid, to take the oath of office as a member of Parliament (MP) by granting him custody parole on July 5.
Additional sessions judge (ASJ) Chander Jit Singh granted Rashid custody parole for two hours.
Rashid, who is currently in prison in connection with a 2016 Jammu & Kashmir terror funding case, had approached Delhi’s Patiala House court on June 5 seeking interim bail or custody parole to take oath and perform other ancillary functions as a member of Parliament.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Monday gave its nod to allow him to take the oath, however, the agency prayed that certain conditions be imposed.
Rashid, a former two-time MLA who heads the Awami Ittehad Party, was arrested in 2019 in a case filed under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) and is currently lodged in Tihar jail in the national Capital.
He was the first mainstream leader held under UAPA and has been in jail on terror financing charges. He was being probed in a case where it was alleged that funds were received by Kashmiri separatists from Pakistan to instigate terror activities in Jammu and Kashmir.
Rashid contested as an independent candidate from Baramulla seat in Jammu and Kashmir and won by a margin of 2,04,142 votes, defeating former chief minister Omar Abdullah.
Indian law does not explicitly prohibit undertrials from contesting elections. While a lawfully imprisoned person is prohibited from voting under Section 62(5) of the Representation of People Act (RPA) (if they are confined in a prison, whether on a sentence of imprisonment or transportation or otherwise, or if they are in the lawful custody of the police), a 2013 amendment to the Act states that the person will still be considered an elector if their name is on the electoral rolls.
The amendment was carried out to nullify July 10, 2023, Supreme Court judgment that anybody in police custody or jail will not be able to contest elections because the person ceases the right to cast a vote as an “elector”. The amended provision, however, allowed even an imprisoned person to contest elections.
Interestingly, Section 8(3) of the RPA states that a person convicted of an offense and sentenced to imprisonment for at least two years is disqualified from contesting elections for six more years after their release. However, this does not apply to undertrials, who have not been convicted.
