NEW DELHI, Mar 28:
The Delhi High Court on Friday asked Jammu and Kashmir MP Abdul Rashid Sheikh, alias Engineer Rashid, to deposit Rs 4 lakh with the prison authorities as travel expenses for attending Parliament.
A bench of Justices Chandra Dhari Singh and Anup Jairam Bhambhani on March 25 allowed him to attend the ongoing Parliament session “in-custody” till April 4 and rejected the NIA’s apprehension that he was a flight risk.
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Rashid’s counsel on Friday said he had already deposited Rs 1.45 lakh with the authorities and would deposit the remaining Rs 2.55 lakh within three days.
The bench said upon depositing the amount, he would be taken to the Parliament to attend the session.
The court observed it did not want the purpose of its order on allowing Rashid to attend the Parliament session to be defeated and therefore it was trying to strike a balance between the interest of both the parties.
Rashid, the court said, should at least deposit 50 per cent of the total amount of Rs 8.74 lakh and posted the matter on May 19.
The NIA, in the meantime, was directed to respond to Rashid’s plea for a waiver of the condition to bear travel expenses to attend the Parliament session within four weeks.
Rashid said the March 25 order granting him permission to attend Parliament was uploaded on the court’s website on March 26 afternoon and in the evening his counsel received an e-mail from the jail authorities that he was required to pay around Rs 1.45 lakh each day for travel and other arrangements.
It summed up to Rs 8.74 lakh for the six-day duration, the plea said.
Rashid claimed of not being in afinancial position to bear the “excessively high” cost and he was going to fulfil his constitutional duties and not allowed to be prejudiced with such high costs.
His plea was opposed by the NIA counsel who said it was a gross misuse of the law.
Rashid’s counsel said the Parliamentarian did not have money to give to the authorities which hampered him from attending the Parliament sessions and he would have to crowd fund the amount.
While allowing him to attend Parliament, the court had asked plain-clothed policemen to escort Rashid from prison to Parliament on days of the Lok Sabha session between March 26 and April 4 aside from bearing the expenses for the to-and-fro travel and other arrangements.
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