NEW DELHI — The Patiala House Court on Saturday granted custody parole to jailed Baramulla MP Engineer Abdul Rashid Sheikh to enable him to attend the upcoming Budget Session of Parliament.
The order was passed by Additional Sessions Judge Prashant Sharma, who permitted Rashid, presently lodged in Tihar Jail in a terror funding case, to participate in the Budget Session of the Lok Sabha from January 28 onwards while remaining in custody.
The court clarified that the question of who will bear the travel expenses during his custody parole will remain subject to the outcome of Rashid’s pending appeal before the Delhi High Court.
In November 2025, the Delhi High Court delivered a split judgment on Rashid’s plea seeking modification of the condition requiring him to pay nearly Rs 4 lakh towards travel and deployment costs during his visits to Parliament.
After Justice Vivek Chaudhary had rejected the plea and Justice Anup Jairam Bhambhani had allowed it, the matter was referred to Chief Justice D.K. Upadhyaya, the Master of the Roster, for administrative directions.
Rashid’s counsel had said before the Delhi High Court that imposing daily custodial travel costs, including salaries of police personnel, effectively restricted an elected MP from representing his constituency. He added that while Engineer Rashid was willing to bear reasonable expenses, the inclusion of police salaries was beyond the scope of the Delhi Prison Rules.
On the other hand, the Delhi Police had defended the calculation, saying the amount covered deployment charges, logistics, and security arrangements necessary for escorting an undertrial MP to Parliament.
Engineer Rashid, chief of the Jammu and Kashmir Awami Ittehad Party (AIP), had fought the 2024 Lok Sabha election from Tihar Jail and registered a massive victory over National Conference Vice-President and former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah by more than two lakh votes.
Rashid, the sitting MP from Jammu and Kashmir’s Baramulla, is facing allegations under a terror funding case and remains in judicial custody. — IANS
