New Delhi: Jailed Sikh separatist Amritpal Singh and terror funding accused Sheikh Abdul Rashid, also known as ‘Engineer Rashid’, will be brought to Delhi on parole to take oath as Lok Sabha MPs Friday.
While Amritpal, who won from Punjab’s Khadoor Sahib in the parliamentary elections, is lodged in Assam’s Dibrugarh jail under the Public Safety Act, Rashid, who won from Kashmir’s Baramulla constituency, is in Tihar jail under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act.
Both will be brought to Parliament by the Delhi Police and taken to the Speaker’s chambers where they will take the oath and complete other formalities, following which they will be taken back to jail.
Speaking to ThePrint, Amritpal’s lawyer Rajdeo Singh Khalsa said the district magistrate of Amritsar had granted his client a four-day parole, but he would not be allowed to go anywhere else apart from Parliament to take oath.
Khalsa added that Amritpal will be allowed to meet his family but he cannot leave the “territorial jurisdiction” of Delhi. Moreover, his family will not interact with the media.
Amritpal will be flown from Assam to Delhi Friday in a special aircraft arranged by the Punjab government, Khalsa said.
“He will be brought to Delhi on 5 July for a three-minute ceremony that will take place in the Speaker’s chamber. No one is allowed to go there. He will be brought to Delhi in police custody, taken to Parliament and then after the ceremony, he will be taken back in custody and back to jail. Parole was given for four days but he will be taken back to Assam on the same day itself,” he added.
“Four days was given by the court keeping in mind the travel time between Assam to Delhi and back. Extra time was given to cover any weather emergency or a technical fault in the plane that may arise,” Khalsa further said.
The parole order also says that Amritpal’s family cannot video record any statement by him.
Rashid too will be brought to Parliament from Tihar where he has been lodged since 2019, and taken back the same day.
His son Abrar Rashid, who had campaigned in the Valley for his father, will be present for the ceremony.
“I can go to the chamber and meet him during the oath. The last time I met him was in January. This will be my first meeting after he won the election. I can’t wait to see him. It is not just an emotional moment but also a proud one,” Abrar told ThePrint.
Sheikh Abdul Rashid, who fought the Lok Sabha polls as an Independent, defeated former Jammu & Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah by a margin of over 1.7 lakh votes.
According to the National Investigation Agency (NIA), Rashid was a direct recipient of terror funds. In March 2022, NIA special judge Praveen Singh, while passing an order on framing of charges, had said that money for terror funding was sent from and by Pakistan and its agencies, and “even the diplomatic mission was used to fulfill the evil design”.
Money for terror funding was also sent by proclaimed international terrorist and accused Hafiz Saeed, the judge said.
In its arguments in court, the NIA had said that the money was for funding separatist and terrorist activities in Jammu & Kashmir and that the accused had hatched a larger conspiracy for causing disruption in the Valley through stone-throwing, systematically burning down schools, damaging public property and waging war against India.
(Edited by Gitanjali Das)
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