Court allows two-hour custody parole to Engineer Rashid to take oath as MP
New Delhi, Jul 2: A court here on Tuesday granted two-hour custody parole to Kashmiri leader Sheikh Abdul Rashid to take oath as a Lok Sabha MP on July 5, subject to some conditions.
Rashid, also known as Engineer Rashid, was elected from Baramulla seat as an independent candidate defeating National Conference leader Omar Abdullah in the recent Lok Sabha polls.
He was arrested in a 2017 Jammu and Kashmir terror funding case.
Rashid had moved the court seeking interim bail, or custody parole in the alterative, to take oath and perform his parliamentary functions.
Additional Sessions Judge Chander Jit Singh allowed custody parole for two hours on July 5 to enable him to take oath, subject to a few conditions. These included a custody parole of two hours or till the conclusion of proceedings, whichever was later. The designated time of two hours excluded travel time.
It said Rashid’s wife and children were allowed to be present, on production of identity cards, during the making and subscribing of the oath and that he was not allowed access to a phone and internet.
The court also said he shall not speak to or address the media on any issue, nor would he interact with anyone except the officials concerned.
His family was directed to not take photos of the ceremony or post them on social media, the court said.
On Monday, the NIA's counsel did not oppose Rashid's plea and said his oath taking should be subject to some conditions like not speaking to the media and completing all formalities within a day.
Rashid has been in jail since 2019 after he was charged by the NIA under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act for his alleged involvement in a terror funding case. He is currently lodged in Tihar jail.
The former MLA's name cropped up during the investigation of Kashmiri businessman Zahoor Watali, who the NIA had arrested for allegedly funding terrorist groups and separatists in the Kashmir valley.
The NIA had filed a charge sheet against several individuals, including Kashmiri separatist leader Yasin Malik, Lashkar-e-Taiba founder Hafiz Saeed and Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin in the case. Malik was awarded life imprisonment by a trial court in 2022 after he pleaded guilty to the charges.
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POCSO Act case: Bengaluru court issues summons to BS Yediyurappa to appear on July 15
Bengaluru, Jul 4: A Bengaluru court on Thursday issued summons to former Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa to appear before it on July 15 in connection with a POCSO Act case filed against him.
The Criminal Investigation Department had filed a charge sheet against the BJP leader at Fast Track Court 1 for POCSO Act cases here on June 27.
A day later, the Karnataka High Court extended its interim order restraining the CID from arresting Yediyurappa after allowing the prosecution to file objections to the petition filed by him seeking quashing of the FIR against him, and then adjourned a further hearing by two weeks.
The CID, probing charges against Yediyurappa of sexually assaulting a minor girl, has alleged in the charge sheet that he and three other accused paid money to the alleged victim and her mother to buy their silence.
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The 81-year-old Yediyurappa has been charged under Section 8 (punishment for sexual assault) of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and Sections 354A (sexual harassment), 204 (destruction of document or electronic record to prevent its production as evidence) and 214 (offering gift or restoration of property in consideration of screening offender) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
The other three co-accused -- Arun Y M, Rudresh M and G Mariswamy who are aides of Yediyurappa -- are charged under IPC Sections 204 and 214, in the charge sheet.
The case was registered on March 14 this year based on a complaint by the mother of a 17-year-old girl who alleged that Yediyurappa sexually assaulted her daughter during a meeting on February 2 at his residence in Dollars Colony here.
Yediyurappa was questioned for over three hours by the CID on June 17.
The 54-year-old victim's mother, who had leveled the charge against Yediyurappa, died at a private hospital here in May, due to lung cancer.
Yediyurappa has denied the charge and said he would fight the case legally.
